Worlds Collide: Part One
by Litta
Summary: A girl with no memory of her past meets new friends from Final Fantasy VII and VIII, and they work together to remember who she is. As her memories resurface, so do old enemies... This is my first fan fic, so please read and review!
1. Unsolved Riddles

**Chapter 1**

Cloud lay on the cot wondering how long Rufus was going to keep him. _What does he want me for anyways?_ Cloud thought. Before he could think any more though, he heard a commotion out in the hall.

"Let me go!" a female voice screamed.

"Rufus needs to have a little chat with you first." It was Reno.

"I don't even know who Rufus is. What does he want with me?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Put her in one of the rooms. I'll go see what Rufus wants us to do with her for now."

A door slammed shut and all was quiet once more.

_Strange,_ Cloud thought. _That voice, it sounds so familiar._ He shook it off and went back to thinking about why he was here. Meanwhile...

"We brought the girl, just as you instructed," Reno stated.

"Excellent. Where is she?" Rufus was still facing the window.

"We put her in one of the rooms downstairs. Should I bring her up?"

"Please." With one simple word, Reno left to fetch the new prisoner.

"Get up," Reno commanded her.

"Leave me alone."

"Get up now or I'll get you up myself." She stood up slowly and walked in the direction Reno pointed. They took the elevator and entered Rufus' office.

"Please, sit," Rufus instructed. She sat, Reno stood to the side.

"Who are you?" she blurted out. Slowly, the chair turned away from the window to face her.

"I am Rufus Shinra, head of the Shin-Ra Corporation."

"Like your last name?"

"It was, but due to past events I've changed it a little."

"To what?"

"Shin-Ra."

"So what do you want with me?"

"Patience, patience. What is your name, child?"

"I'm not a child," she paused. "My name is Litta."

"And your last name?" Rufus asked.

"I don't know my last name, so I made Maynard my new last name," she said quietly.

"I see. Who are your parents?"

"I don't know that either. Why are you asking me all these question?"

"All in due time, my dear. Why don't you know the answers to these simple questions?"

"I can't remember anything before I was 15, ok. I've been wandering the streets in different cities ever since then."

"I see. Well, you must be tired. Reno, take her back to her room so she can rest. We'll talk more tomorrow Litta." He turned his chair around to face the window again, signifying the conversation was over.

"Come on," Reno said. She stood up and followed Reno back to her room. Once she was inside, she lay down and slept.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

"_Come here," a kind voice commanded. She followed the voice. A man with spiked blonde hair led her out of the rubble._

"_Where are you taking me?"_

"_To safety," was all he said. She went willingly, only looking back once at what was left of her mansion. They walked out of the city, into the forest, and ran into some other people. "Is this her?" one asked. "How can you be sure?" said another. Many questions floated around her head. She started to feel dizzy, and blackness consumed her..._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Litta woke up feeling strangely afraid, as if she could sense something bad was about to happen. Then she heard voices outside in the hallway.

"Cloud, are you actually crazy enough to think you'll escape this time?" _Reno_,

she thought.

"Believe me Reno, I'm not going to stay another minute in this place." _Another prisoner I guess._ "Where is the girl you brought here yesterday?" he demanded. "I'm only going to ask you once."

"That's not your concern Cloud."

"It's very much my concern, now where is she?" Litta decided to pound on her door to get his attention. "Well it seems you don't need to answer that question." Cloud walked over to the door and broke it open using his sword.

"Rufus won't be happy when he hears what you did to his door," Reno said.

"I don't care what makes Rufus happy. I'm getting out of here and she's coming with me."

"Why do you care about her?"

"That's none of your business. Now move away from the elevator door."

"I don't think so." Reno pulled out a gun and fired a shot straight into Cloud's chest. As he fell he thrust his sword into Reno, refusing to die alone.

"Litta, there's too much to explain, but," he paused for a breath. "You have to get out of here. Run into the North Forest and find Squall. Give him this," he handed her a paper. When she looked back up at his face, he was dead.

She took the paper from his hand and ran. She barely made it into the forest before the alarm went off. After running for about an hour, she looked behind her to see if anyone was following and ran straight into someone. She looked up slowly, afraid of it being another Turk, but instead looked up into the handsome face of a complete stranger.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No, you weren't," he said.

"I said I was sorry."

"What's your hurry? Is something wrong?"

"I just escaped from the Shin-Ra building, a guy named Cloud is dead, a Turk named Reno is dead, and there are more Turks after me."

"Did you say Cloud is dead?"

"Yeah, he was trying to get me out. He's the one who killed Reno. Why?"

"He was a friend of mine. But right now, I think you ought to keep moving so you can stay ahead of the Turks chasing you."

"I hate to ask you, but could you help me? Just show me to the nearest town. Please?"

"Sure, I guess. Follow me." After a couple of hours they reached Deling City.

"Thanks so much, uh. I didn't ever get your name."

"My name's Squall, and your welcome." She immediately thought of the paper Cloud had given her before he died.

"Before Cloud, died, he told me to find you and give you this." She handed Squall the piece of paper. As he read it, she watched his face change. When he looked up at her, his face was unreadable.

"What?' asked Litta. "What does it say?"

"That's not important right now. Come on, I'm taking you to a friend's house." Litta followed, not knowing what else to do. When they finally arrived, Litta noticed the house was more like a mansion. Squall knocked on the door, and a girl that looked about around Squall's age opened the door.

"Hey Rinoa. It's been a while."

"Yes it has Squall. Two years now?"

"About that long. I was wondering if my friend and I could stay the night."

"Who is she?"

"Can we or can't we stay Rinoa?"

"First I want to know who I am letting stay at my father's house. Is she a criminal or something?"

"Of course not. We just need a place to stay for the night. We'll be gone in the morning."

"If you just want to stay one night, go to the hotel."

"Rinoa, why can't you forget the past?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're still mad at me for leaving you two years ago."

"Squall, you made the biggest mistake of your life then and I will never, NEVER forget it." She slammed the door in his face.

"Where's the hotel Squall?" Litta asked.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked you where the hotel was. I'll stay there tonight. You can drop me off there and leave if you like."

"It's not that, it's just...Oh, forget it. The hotel's this way," and he started walking away from the mansion. As Litta took her last look, she saw Rinoa looking out the window. Litta turned around and ran to catch up with Squall.

After checking into two adjacent rooms, Squall said he had to talk to some people and that he'd be back later. Litta stayed awake for some time, but was eventually overcome with weariness.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

_A man with long white hair stood smiling at her._

"_I'm so proud of you. You've taken your first step to following in my legacy. I have to go now and take care of some of my enemies, but I'll be back. Wait here for me. If I don't come back, take this book and run. You'll understand when you're older. Don't lose that book. Goodbye Litta."_

"_Goodbye Father."_

------------

_She watched in horror as her father was slowly beaten down by a man her father called Cloud._

"_You're through Sephiroth. It's over. You can't hurt anymore people. I'm going to leave you here to die, so this is goodbye."_

"_Cloud, I'll return one day. You'll see. And when I do, you'll be the first to suffer my wrath." Cloud walked away laughing with everyone else._

"_No!" Litta screamed. "You can't die. I won't let you."_

"_Litta, take the book and leave. Go, now."_

"_No, I won't leave you. I won't, NO!" she screamed even louder._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

"Litta, wake up." It was Squall.

"Squall, I, he, Cloud-"

"It was only a dream. Don't worry."

"But it was so real. Wha...what time is it?"

"It's three in the morning."

"Why are you in here?"

"You were yelling in your sleep."

"Oh, sorry. You can go back to bed now, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes, go back to bed." Squall closed the door. _Sephiroth, why does that name sound so familiar? _Litta thought. _Oh well, I'll figure it out in the morning. _She slept peacefully through the rest of the night.


	2. Questions and Answers

**Chapter 2**

Litta was up before seven, when Squall came in to wake her up.

"You're already up?" Squall asked.

"I woke up early."

"Oh. I think we need to talk before we decide anything."

"About what?"

"Something Cloud told me in that note he gave you."

"Can I read the note?" Litta was curious to see what it said.

"Not yet. Does the name Sephiroth mean anything to you?" Litta thought of her dream. _Should I tell him?_ she wondered_. No, it's just a silly dream...isn't it?_ She didn't really know.

"It sounds familiar," was all she said.

"What about Ultimacia?"

"Not really? Should I have heard of these names?"

"Never mind that. Where are you from?"

"The first place I remember is," she remembered another dream, "Esthar," she said instead.

"What about Midgar, ever been there?"

"I don't think so." Squall didn't respond. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"Do you own any books?" That's an odd question, she thought.

"Only an old book I've had ever since I can remember. It's written in another language, and it's pretty old." She pulled out a small, black, leather-bound book.

"Can I look at that please?" She nodded her head and he took it from her hands. He flipped through the pages and looked back at Litta. "Do you have any idea what this is?"

"No," she said simply. How can I know what it is if I can't read it?

"Do you know anything about your past?"

"Not before age fifteen. Why?"

"How old are you now?"

"Seventeen. Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"Cloud would have been the best person to tell you this, but," Squall had been talking to himself, but now he addressed Litta. "But it seems that I'm the one who has to tell you now. You probably aren't ready to hear this, but there isn't much time left."

"Time left for what? What do you have to tell me?" Litta was really confused now.

"About two and a half years ago, Cloud and a few friends, not including me, set out to stop Rufus Shinra and kill Sephiroth. Rufus was using Mako energy to power the city of Midgar and it was killing the planet. Sephiroth was trying to resurrect Jenova. Eventually though, Cloud was able to defeat Sephiroth before he resurrected Jenova.

"He told me that as he was walking away from Sephiroth he saw a girl, Sephiroth's daughter, run to him. Cloud would have stayed to try to talk to her, but the cave they were in started to collapse. He was cut off from her by some rubble that fell, and Cloud was pulled out just in time by Vincent, one of his friends. Cloud later found out what had caused the cave to collapse.

"You see, I'm from another world. In my world, a sorceress tried to achieve time compression, where past, present, and future were combined into one world, a world where only she could survive. Some friends and I were chosen to stop her. When we came out of time compression, we found that she had partly succeeded in her goal. She had collided my world into Cloud's.

"Cloud and I met a little while later and exchanged stories. He also had a girl with him. He said he found her in the rubble of a mansion in Midgar. Midgar had been completely destroyed when the two worlds collided. The girl he had with him, was you. We were attacked right then, and you disappeared. We weren't able to find you again.

"Cloud later found out that you were the daughter of Sephiroth. He also found out that you had a book with you, written in an ancient language. If done properly, this book has the power to resurrect Sephiroth and Ultimacia, who could together resurrect Jenova and destroy this world. That's why Rufus is after you.

"He thinks he can bring back just Sephiroth, and then sell the book to him for a high price. He has no idea of the terror that would come from that. Neither does he know that you are the only one able to read this book and resurrect Sephiroth. If he figures that out, he'll stop at nothing to find you and force you to do that. That's why Cloud was willing to give up his life to get you out of Shin-Ra and away from Rufus."

Litta was silent for a long time. _So my dreams are actually events that happened in my past._ "Why can't we just burn the book and be rid of it forever?"

"I wish it were that simple. The book can't be destroyed. That's why no one must ever know who you are or the fact that you have this book in your possession."

"But surely there is a way to keep Sephiroth from ever coming back."

"As far as we know, that book is his only way back, but unfortunately only he can destroy it."

"So why don't we bring him back, have him destroy the book, and then kill him."

"Sephiroth has already beaten death once," Squall said. "When he came back, he was stronger. If you were to bring him back again, he would be even more powerful than ever, and near impossible to defeat. Plus, how would you get him to destroy the book?"

"I don't know," Litta said after a while. "I just wish this wasn't happening to me, that's all. I mean, it's not fair. I wake up in a strange city when I'm 15, and all I can remember is my name. I don't have a home so I drift from city to city." Squall listened without interrupting. "I am captured by strange people who threaten to kill me, and then take me to their boss who I've never even heard of. Then I escape but with the cost of two lives. I mean, I didn't need to know about my past, and I wish I didn't know because now it makes the future all the more complicated. Could it get any worse?"

"Don't say that," Squall said. "It can always get worse." Suddenly, they heard footsteps in the hall. "Ssh," he commanded. Litta didn't argue. As he leaned his ear against the door, he was able to catch some of a conversation.

"I know they checked in here," a male voice said.

"How do you know for sure?" said a second voice.

"That friend of his, I think her name was-" a door was broken down covered up part of the conversation. Squall listened when he could hear them talking again.

"And you're sure there weren't any mistakes?" questioned the second voice.

"I'm positive. The authorities will just think it was a random fire. Even if they do find the bodies, they'll never suspect General Caraway was killed by Turks." _Rinoa,_ Squall thought.

"Or his daughter too for that matter. I was amazed at how quickly she told us what she knew, though it wasn't much. Pity."

"Sir," a new voice joined in. "We only have two more rooms to check in this hotel. Would you like to do the honors?"

"Indeed I would." Squall quickly moved from the door. They would check his room first, since it was closer.

"Can you use a gun?" Squall whispered.

"A little. Why?" Litta replied.

"Here." He tossed her a gun. One door was knocked in. Theirs would be next. _Will I have to kill anyone?_ Litta wondered. Their door burst open. Squall made the first move, killing two of the three. Litta shot and hit the third in the right shoulder. She fired again and hit his chest, but not before he shot back. His bullet just nicked the side of her head. She brought her hand to her head then brought it back down. She winced at the sight of the blood on her fingers.

"Litta, come on!" yelled Squall. She couldn't seem to make her legs work. Squall came over to her, picked her up, and placed her over his shoulder. He ran down the hall to the emergency exit. The alarm sounded as they opened the door. They were out and gone before the other Turks even reached the second floor.

"Litta, stop moving." He gently set her on the ground and sat down next to her. "Now, Curaga." She sat still and was amazed at how her wound had healed.

"How did you do that?"

"Simple magic. Don't tell me you've never used magic."

"Sorry, but no. So where are we now?" They had been running for what seemed like forever, until Squall had finally set her down just now.

"We're only an hour outside Deling City. You had pretty good aim with a gun you know."

"Thanks." She didn't feel as proud as Squall seemed to be of her. "What did Cloud say in that note?" That's all she had been thinking about.

"Here." He handed it to her.

_Squall,_

_Her name is Litta. She is the daughter of Sephiroth. She has the book. Protect her from Rufus for me._

_-Cloud_

She read it over twice before looking up. "So he knew who I was." It was a statement more than a question. "How did you find out about my past?" _It's sad really. They know more about my past than I do. Where did they find all of my information?_ she wondered.

"Everything I've told you I learned from Cloud. He researched yours and Sephiroth's histories. He wanted to find out if there was any way Sephiroth could come back again. When he found out about the book and you, he spent all of his time searching for you. I helped as much as I could. When we split up to cover more ground, Cloud was caught by Rufus Shinra. Rufus was planning to experiment on Cloud. When I found out that Cloud had been captured, I was on my way over to get him out when you bumped into me."

"So when I told you Cloud had died, what were you thinking?"

"I figured I would take you to town and didn't think farther than that. What were you planning on doing when you got to town and I left you?"

"Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do." _I'm glad you didn't leave me, though._ "You said earlier that Cloud researched my history. Where did he look? Who did he talk to?"

"He talked to some of his friends, but mainly Vincent." _Maybe I should take her to see Vincent. He will have a better idea of what to do than I have._ "Come on, we're moving on."

"Where are we going?"

"To see Vincent." They walked for another hour in silence before they came to a city.

"What city is this?" Litta asked. She had never seen this city before.

"This is Nibelheim," Squall told her. "Cloud's hometown."

"Oh. Who are we here to see again?"

"Vincent." He started walking and said no more. They walked into a deserted part of the town, walked down some stairs underground, and ended up at a house.

"He lives underground?"

"It's a long story, but basically he just wants to be left alone. So very few people know where he lives." Squall knocked on the door and a man answered. He looked to be around 25, but Litta couldn't tell for sure.

"Hello Squall," Vincent answered. "Who is this?" He looked at Litta.

"This is Litta."

"Oh. Come in." Litta followed Squall in. The living room they walked into was not very large but had enough elbow room to still be comfortable. "Sit." Vincent motioned towards some chairs. "What do you want Squall_?" He doesn't seem mad, but he doesn't waste any time in getting to the point,_ Litta thought.

"I need your advice."

"About what," though he had already guessed.

"I'm not sure what to do with her."

"Hmmm. So this is Sephiroth's daughter. You don't really resemble him." Litta made no reply. "Do you remember your father?"

"Not really," Litta answered.

"Do you remember any of your past?"

"Not really," she answered again.

"Hmmm. Squall, come with me. Litta, we will be back." Squall followed Vincent into another room. Litta listened by the door.

"Squall, tell me everything that's happened." Squall recited all the events that had occurred since he had met Litta. "So now you are wondering what to do. I'm not sure, but you might try researching about the book. See if you can get Litta to remember her past as well. That is where I would start."

"But I don't think she wants to remember her past. How can I make her talk about it? If she can't remember, then what will we do?"

Litta was tired of listening. She bolted out the door, ran up the steps, and kept running until she came to a forest. _Now I'm lost. I don't want to go back though. Then I have to deal with my past and my father and everything that is in my past. Is it worth figuring out if all it will do is possibly cost other people their lives? What if Squall were to die for me like Cloud? No, that won't happen. If I stay away from him and Vincent, then nothing will hurt them._

She walked for hours in no specific direction, across the train tracks, until she came to a town. More like the remains of what used to be a town. It had obviously been destroyed for years. She walked around until she came to a nice estate. It looked to have been a mansion. Suddenly, she had a flash back to her dream.

_This must be Midgar, _she thought. _And this must be the mansion from my dream, maybe even where I grew up. But wouldn't that mean that Sephiroth, my father, would have lived here too? Wouldn't he have been moving around to stay away from Cloud? I don't understand. None of this makes any sense. Who has all the answers? That book. Maybe, but wait, I can't read it. It can't hurt to look at it though._

She took out the book and flipped through the pages. The more she looked at the words though, the more she began to realize that she could read some of the writing. In fact, she could read most of it. She began reading out loud, but stopped halfway through. The ground had begun to shake and the sky looked like it would storm. Lightning started flashing and the clouds began to swirl above her. What's going on, she thought.

Suddenly, a figure started descending from the sky. It was limp at first, but slowly began moving. As it stopped just above the ground in the middle of the mansion ruins, she realized that the figure was actually a man. The man was tall, and had long white hair. _Could it be,_ she wondered. _Is that really Sephiroth? Is that really, my father?_ She didn't know what to think. As quickly as the storm had come, it disappeared. The clouds went away and the lightning subsided. The man stood standing, looking straight at her.

"Come to me," the voice commanded. She was afraid to go near it, but even more afraid to disobey. Her legs moved towards the man, carrying her with them. Before she realized it, she was standing in front of him. "Litta." He reached out his hand to her. She took a step backwards.

"W-who are you?" she sputtered.

"You don't know?" She shook her head. "I am your father, Sephiroth."

"But, you can't be. You're dead!"

"As you can see, I am very much alive, thanks to you. If you would continue reading, you will resurrect someone else."

"I don't want to continue reading the book."

"Read!" It was a command, but she threw the book at his feet instead.

"I don't have to listen to you! I won't!" She started to run away, but Sephiroth held out his hand and she couldn't move. "Why can't I move?" Slowly, Sephiroth turned her around to face him. "How are you doing this?"

"Soon you will be able to do much more advanced magic than this." Litta wasn't sure she wanted to find out what that meant. "But first, I need to go find Cloud. I'll be back for you later." He slowly lifted off the ground and flew off in the direction of Nibelheim. _What have I done,_ she thought. _That's where I left Squall and Vincent._ She sat down and tried to think. While she was sitting, she didn't notice two figures approach.

"Litta!" It was Squall. "What just happened? I thought I saw Sephiroth. Why did you leave Vincent's? How did you end up here?"

"I don't know, I don't know. I just ran because I didn't want to hear the two of you talking about my past anymore. I ran and ended up here. It looked exactly like the mansion in my dream, so I started walking around.

"Then I started looking at that book and I could read it. I started to read it out loud, but not that much. Only it was too late and Sephiroth came out of the sky. He told me to read the rest of the book but I wouldn't. I tried to run but I couldn't. He said he had to go find Cloud and said he'd be back for me later. I don't know what to do now. I'm sorry." She could barely hold back the tears, but had just enough strength to.

Squall put his arm around her and said, "I didn't mean to yell at you. I was just worried. I know you didn't know what you were doing. Don't worry, we'll figure something out." He looked up at Vincent.

"We should leave before he comes back," Vincent said. "He won't be happy when he finds out Cloud is dead." Squall agreed. He helped Litta up and they left Midgar.


	3. Hidden Thoughts

**Chapter 3**

Vincent led them away from Midgar and towards Wutai. He figured they would visit Yuffie, and Sephiroth wouldn't be there yet.

"What will Sephiroth do when he finds out Cloud is dead?" Litta asked. No one answered. No one knew for sure.

"Sephiroth," Vincent started, "is hard to predict. He does what he wants, no matter what the cost is. He will raise Jenova no matter who gets hurt." That wasn't the answer Litta was looking for. They arrived at Wutai and Vincent led the way to Yuffie's house.

"Where are we going again?" Litta asked.

"To visit an old friend," Vincent told her. He knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!" a voice from inside yelled. A minute later the door was opened. "Vincent!"

"Hello Yuffie. May we come in?"

"Of course." She opened the door for everyone. "Hello again, Squall, isn't it?"

"Yes. Hello."

"And who's this?" She nodded towards Litta.

"This is Litta, Sephiroth's daughter," Vincent explained.

"Oh," Yuffie said. "I saw a storm in the distance. What's happened?" So Vincent explained everything he had been told, and Squall filled in the missing details. When it came to the storm and Sephiroth's return, Litta told what happened.

"We're not sure what Sephiroth will do when he find's out Cloud is dead." Vincent told her. "Cloud was the person Sephiroth wanted revenge on the most. One thing I do know is that he will want his daughter back."

"Litta," Yuffie turned towards her now, "you said you only read a little of the book. Why did you stop?"

"I remembered what I had been told about resurrecting Sephiroth _and_ Ultimacia so I stopped. I didn't want to summon her too. What will Sephiroth do with me?" Squall only shrugged, but no one said anything.

"Maybe," Yuffie suggested, "we should talk to someone else who has had to deal with Ultimacia. Are any of your friends nearby Squall?"

"Zell and Irvine are in Balamb, that's only a couple hours from here. Quistis is farther away."

"Well why don't we go talk to them?" Yuffie got up and grabbed her weapons. "Well Vincent, what are you waiting for?" He hadn't moved, but now he got up. They left Yuffie's house and Squall led the way to Balamb. Litta walked with Squall.

"So, who are Zell and Irvine?"

"Their two of my friends who helped me defeat Ultimacia. They're kind of wild, so don't be surprised if they act a little crazy." _I don't think anything would surprise me at this point. I've seen and heard so many things I feel like my brain is about to explode._ "You ok?" She looked up to see Squall looking at her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

"What about?"

"About everything that's happened. It's just been so fast, I don't know if I can take much more."

"I think you ought to learn how to use a gun better so you can help out more in the next battle."

"You think there will be another battle?"

"I'm sure of it. Vincent," he called him over, "do you think you can give Litta a few tips on how to use a gun?"

"That's probably a good idea." He took Litta back with him and Yuffie joined Squall at the front. Vincent showed her the proper way to hold the gun and how to aim.

"I never knew so much was involved in shooting a gun."

"It looks easier than it is. Now all you need is a little target practice." But before he could go on, Squall rushed off to check out some noises up ahead. "Squall!" Yuffie, Vincent, and Litta all ran ahead to see who had said Squall's name.

"Hey Zell, Irvine. It's been a while," Squall said.

"Squall, are these your friends?" Vincent had come up behind him.

"Yes. This is Zell and this is Irvine. This is," he turned to the other three people, "Yuffie, Vincent, and Litta." Everyone mumbled a hello or something like it. Litta noticed Irvine smiling in her direction. She quickly turned her head, not wanting the special attention.

"So Squall," Zell started, "what brings you to Balamb with a whole group of friends?"

"Can we talk about this somewhere else Zell?"

"You can come to my apartment," Irvine suggested.

"Good. Lead the way," Squall told him. So they followed Irvine into Balamb and found themselves in a rather tiny apartment.

"So what's up Squall?" Zell asked again. Squall repeated the story again, realizing that every time he had repeated it to someone it was always longer than before. When he was done, Zell was the first to speak up.

"So you're saying this Sephiroth is basically going to try to destroy the world with Ultimacia." Squall nodded. "But we defeated her before. How can she come back?"

"It's confusing, but basically what I can gather is the book that Litta has can somehow bring her back from the dead, using some kind of powerful magic." Zell thought for a minute.

"So what do you want us to do?"

"I'm not really sure yet. It was Yuffie's suggestion."

"I figured that Vincent and I know how to defeat Sephiroth, you and your friends know how to defeat Ultimacia, so we would have better odds that way. I act before I think sometimes." Vincent seemed to chuckle at that.

"So Squall," Irvine said, "how did Sephiroth come back? I mean you said that the book was in some other language, right?"

"That was my fault," Litta said. "I started reading the book out loud. I don't know how I could read it, though." _Not that I know a lot about my past in general._

"I'm sure it wasn't totally your fault," he said.

"I just told you it was. There wasn't anyone else around to blame it on."

"I was just saying, that's all."

"Well since you don't know everything don't say anything!" Irvine looked surprised at her outburst. Squall tried to suppress his laughter. Zell too was laughing, but he made no effort to hide it.

"Irvine here is a notorious ladies' man," said Zell, "and isn't used to being rejected."

"I can handle rejection!" Irvine replied. "It just doesn't happen that often, you know. The ladies just can't keep their hands off me." Zell laughed again. Squall joined him. Soon Yuffie was laughing and even Vincent began chuckling. Irvine looked away to hide the red creeping into his face.

"Let's get back to business," Vincent said. Slowly everyone stopped laughing. Irvine turned around once his face was back to normal.

"We're still stuck with the question of what to do now?" said Zell. "What do you think Squall?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're good at being a leader. You became the leader at Balamb Garden when we had to defeat all of the sorceresses."

_That was different,_ Squall thought. _I was forced to become the leader in those situations. I didn't ask to become leader, it was just expected. I have no idea what to do in this situation, except keep everyone from getting killed and protect Litta. Litta..._ He wasn't able to finish that thought before someone cut in.

"Thinking to yourself again?" It was Zell.

"What's wrong with my thinking?"

"Nothing, it's just you do too much of it. What were you thinking about anyways?"

"Just...nothing. I don't think I'd make a good leader. I think Vincent would be better."

"Totally!" Yuffie agreed.

"Why me?"

"You know Sephiroth better for one thing," Squall said.

"But you know Ultimacia."

"But she isn't alive again yet," Squall pointed out.

"Come on Vincent," Yuffie prodded. "You always know what to do, or at least what not to do."

"I guess if that's what everyone wants."

"Anyone opposed?" No one objected.

"Great!" Yuffie yelled. "Now we have a leader."

"So what should we do?" questioned Squall.

"First I think I should take Litta out to practice some more with her gun. Besides that, we shouldn't stay in any place too long."

"Go ahead and take Litta out right now. When you're ready, come get us and we'll head out."

So Vincent took Litta out to practice. They walked out where she wouldn't hit any buildings or people, and gave her a few targets to hit.

"You're getting better," he told her.

"Really? It doesn't seem like it. I've missed half the targets."

"That's not the most important thing. What's important is that you learn what you did wrong and you fix it."

"I guess." _Actually, I'm probably missing some of these shots because I'm not concentrating. What does Sephiroth want with me? Will he force me to read the book and bring back Ultimacia? Would I be able to resist him? Could I get him to spare my friends? Would he spare me? Crap!_ She missed the target and the bullet almost hit Vincent. "Sorry."

"What were you thinking about that made you aim so bad?"

"I was just thinking about Sephiroth."

"Try not to think about that for now."

"Why not? He's my father isn't he?" She paused. "Will he really come after me?"

"I don't know. No one knows much about Sephiroth."

"But do you think he'll come after me?"

"My guess would be yes. Would you go with him?"

"I don't want to, but he can control me somehow, so I'm afraid of not having a choice."

"We'll have to deal with that issue when we come to it. For now, since Rufus is probably looking for you at this point, you ought to practice shooting so you can protect yourself against the Turks."

"Turks." She said the name with disgust. _Why do they even have to exist? All they do is hurt people. Someone needs to deal with them. Maybe that person should be me. They're already looking for me. I would have the perfect way to get into the Shin-Ra building. Hmmm..._ A plan started to form in her head.

"I think you've had all the practice you need," Vincent told her. "Wait here while I go get the others." Once he was gone, she wrote a quick note on with the pen and paper she had take from Irvine's apartment. She tacked it to a tree and ran off. When the others arrived, Squall was the first to notice the note.

_Squall and company,_

_Sorry to run off on you, but I need to take care of something. I'll meet you in a day or two in Esthar by the northernmost entrance. Don't bother following me. I'll be fine._

_-Litta_

"What does it say Squall?" asked Irvine.

"She left to take care of something. We're supposed to meet her in Esthar in a day or two, and we're not to follow her." _Why would she do this? Doesn't she know there are people after her? Where did she go? What could she possibly have to take care of?_

"So what now Vincent? You're the leader," Zell said. Vincent thought for a second. "I think Squall and I should go after Litta. The rest of you should go to Esthar and wait." Everyone agreed, so Squall told them where to wait. Then he and Vincent took off.


	4. Lessons and Emotions

**Chapter 4**

As Litta ran she wondered what the others were doing. _I hope they got my note. Of course they did, it was pretty obvious. But will they listen, or will they come after me? I almost wish Squall wou- no, I can't think about that. That will only cause me to lose my concentration._

She walked for another couple of hours before she heard a sound. Something, or someone, was following her. She could hear it stop when she stopped and start when she started. She turned around, but of course saw nothing. _It's just my imagination,_ she concluded. She walked on. She heard it again, only now she was sure of it. She started to speed up, so did her follower. She ran, only not fast enough. Soon she felt a hand grab her and spin her around. It was a Turk.

"I've been looking for you," he said.

"I bet you have. What do you want?"

"You need to come back to the Shin-Ra building with me and have a little chat with Rufus."

"And if I don't cooperate?"

"You'll be coming either way"

"I don't think so."

She pulled out her gun. She aimed but had to dodge a bullet first. She fired but was off by an inch or so. _I need to concentrate,_ she thought. She dodged another bullet, and then took the time to aim. She hit his shoulder.

"Ugh, you'll regret that." He lunged at her. She was unprepared and he knocked her flat.

"I'm not going with you," she told him.

"Yes you are." He punched her in the stomach. He got up when she doubled over in pain. "Now get up," he commanded.

"I told you. I'm not going with you." She pulled out her gun and was about to fire when someone knocked the gun out of her hand from behind. Then, by the same person, was kicked in the back of the head and knew no more.

"I thought you said you could handle her Rude."

"I was doing just fine, Tseng."

"Right. Heal yourself up and catch up to me." Tseng picked Litta up and threw her over his shoulder. He left Rude behind.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

"_What are you going to do to me?" she asked._

"_You'll find out soon enough. Your father wanted to make sure he would always be able to find you, that's all."_

"_I don't understand. Who are you?"_

"_My name is not important." He turned on the machine. She felt an electrical charge course through her body. She screamed. "That's nothing. But soon you won't feel anything." Suddenly she was very tired. She couldn't focus or keep her eyes open. She blacked out._

_-------------_

_She woke up in the same room. She remembered being electrocuted, and the man, but could remember nothing else. "Where am I?"_

"_Don't you know?" said a voice._

"_Who's there?"_

"_Rufus Shinra, child. I came to check up on you. Since you're awake, we'll see how Hojo did." He turned on the machine. She felt the electricity again. She screamed again. He looked at another monitor and muttered something about "it's working". He turned the machine off._

"_Did it work?" someone asked._

"_Wonderfully."_

"_Litta, look at me." She turned her head. It was her father. "Now when you run away I'll know how to find you." She groaned. "Show me how this works," he told Rufus. He turned on the machine again._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Litta woke from her dream into a nightmare. She was strapped down onto another table exactly like the one in her dream. There was a machine to the side of her, an exact copy of the one from her dream. She was afraid of what would happen next. Rufus walked into the room which only increased her fears.

"Well it's nice to see you again. I'm sorry to hear you attacked Rude. That wasn't very polite of you."

"Who are you to tell me what's polite?"

"That doesn't matter. Shall we begin?"

"Begin what?" She was afraid of what the answer would be.

"You shall see." He went to the machine and turned it on. It was the same. She screamed at the pain. "You still react the same, and I haven't even warmed up the machine yet. What a pity." He walked over to a monitor and seemed to be inspecting something.

"What are you looking at?" she was able to spit out.

"I'm just checking to see if your chip is still in order. It appears to be in need of repairs though. I'm afraid we're going to have to give you a new one." He shut off the machine. "I'll be right back."

She tried to reach the machine but with her arms tied down she was short about a foot. She tried using her legs but couldn't reach it still. She shook the table but it was bolted to the floor. _Maybe I ought to save my strength for whatever they have planned for me. I don't know if I can take much more of that machine._ Rufus came back in with another man.

"This is Hojo's replacement. Surely you remember Hojo."

"I'm afraid I don't." _I'm not sure I want to._

"Well, regardless of that, this is the doctor that will replace your chip."

"Is that really necessary?"

"I'm afraid I have no choice in the matter. If I don't cooperate then your father will kill me. He wants to be able to find you when he needs to. I'll leave you to your business Sans." The other man nodded and Rufus left the room. "Make sure you put it in the same shoulder," Rufus added before the door closed.

He picked up a needle and filled it with a liquid. He injected it her arm. She began to feel drowsy. He turned on the machine again, but her eyes were already clouded with blackness. She knew no more.

Squall and Vincent ran ahead when they heard the gun shots. They got there and saw Rude with a bullet wound.

"What happened to you?" Vincent questioned. Squall held his blade to Rude's throat proving they meant business.

"Get out of here before I kill you."

"Where is Litta?" Squall asked.

"Tseng took her. Now leave me a-" Vincent sent one strong punch in his stomach and he fell over. Squall hit him with the sword and Rude was out cold. They ran in the direction of the Shin-Ra building.

"You seem rather worried about Litta, Squall."

"Aren't you?"

"Yes, but your concern is different. Are you not telling me something?"

"Of course I've told you everything. Why wouldn't I?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about. You like her don't you?"

"Who, Litta? No!"

"Are you sure?" Squall made no reply. "I thought so. You know, there is no shame in feeling for her. Why do you hide it?"

"I would feel like an idiot when she says she doesn't like me back."

"You say it like you know what she will say, yet you haven't talked to her. Are you sure she doesn't share your feelings?"

"I don't know, but right now that's not important. There's the Shin-Ra building, but how are we going to get inside without setting off the alarms?"

"Good question. I usually climb the wall myself, but that might not be an easy task for you. Wait, follow me." Squall didn't question him. Vincent found the back way in, a way that only a Turk or ex-Turk would know. They took the elevator to the experiment floor, but all was silent.

Litta woke up. She remembered where she was after a moment, and then looked at the scientist. He hadn't seemed to notice that she was awake yet. He turned around then, and moved to the machine. "Let's see if your chip works," he said. He turned on the machine. She screamed. "It's working fine." He turned it off. "I need to see what Rufus wants me to do now."

Squall and Vincent heard someone scream from within one of the rooms. Then one of the doors opened and a man walked out. He saw them, but they had seen him first. They closed the door and pulled him away from it.

"Who are you, and who's in there?" Squall asked him.

"I'm only the scientist working for Rufus Shinra. There's a girl in there who I just experimented on."

"What did you do to her?" Vincent asked.

"I just replaced a tracking chip that her father wanted working, or at least that's what Rufus told me. What do you want with me?" They didn't answer him. They knocked him out to prevent him from setting off the alarm. Then they went into the room he had come out of.

"Litta!" Squall unhooked the monitors and unlatched the bars holding her to the table. "Are you ok?" She looked somewhat drained of her energy.

"I'm fine, just a little tired. What are you guys doing here?"

"We got your note. Vincent and I came after you while the others went to Esthar. We couldn't just let you get yourself caught."

"It seems I got caught anyways though."

"Come on, we need to get you out of here before the alarm goes off. Can you walk?" He helped her off the table. She was a bit unsteady, but could stand.

"I think I can manage. How do we get out?"

"Vincent knows this place better than I do. Vincent?" But before Vincent could answer, Rufus walked into the room, followed by Tseng.

"My, my, my. I guess my security just isn't what it used to be. Vincent, it's been a while since I've seen you in one of these rooms."

"Not long enough for me," Vincent replied.

"So bitter. Why do you hold a grudge against me? Isn't because of what I did that you were stronger and able to defeat Sephiroth?"

"You just enjoy putting people through pain. Now, move aside, out of our way." Instead of moving aside, he motioned to Tseng who moved towards Litta, but Squall stepped in his way.

"Leave her alone."

"Are you her bodyguard? Or her boyfriend?"

"I'm her friend." Litta hid her disappointment. "Now do as Vincent said and move aside."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He pulled out a gun, but Litta already had hers back and had it pointed right at Tseng. Her other was aimed at Rufus.

"If you shoot him," she said, "then I shoot you and your boss."

Tseng noticed her guns. He lowered his gun, but then brought it back up and fired at Vincent. He dodged and landed a little ways from Rufus. Tseng turned and rushed at Vincent. Vincent moved away from Rufus, causing Tseng to immediately stop himself before running into Rufus. Squall swung his sword at Tseng, knocking him against the wall. Tseng got up, but was shot in the stomach by Litta. Vincent threw Rufus against the wall next to Tseng.

"Squall, Litta, let's go," Vincent yelled. They ran out. They were at the exit when the alarm went off. They ran into the forest and headed towards Esthar.

"Don't worry Tseng, we can track her. Go heal yourself." Rufus headed to his office.

"Litta, hurry up." _That's the third time I've had to remind her,_ Squall thought.

"I'm trying," she told him.

"Do you need help?"

"No I'll be fine." _Why does he care so much,_ she wondered. Vincent smiled inwardly.

They traveled in silence for the next few hours. They slowed the pace down some so Litta could keep up. Eventually they reached Esthar.

"We're at the wrong entrance," Litta said.

"I know," said Squall. "We'll walk through the city until we get to the other side." Litta moaned. She had hoped they were done walking when they reached Esthar.

"How far is it to the other side?" she asked.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"No. How long will it take us to get there? No, don't answer that either." Squall laughed.

"Come on. The sooner we start the sooner we'll get there." They walked for almost an hour before Squall spotted Zell.

"Irvine, Yuffie, over here," Zell shouted. They met each other half way. "What took you guys so long?"

"We ran into a few problems, that's all," Squall told them.

"You mean Turks?" asked Yuffie. Vincent nodded. "Oh, I missed all the fun," she whined. _I'm sure that's not the last time we'll see them,_ Litta thought.

"So why'd you run off, Litta?" Irvine asked.

"I thought I needed to do something," she started, "but I was wrong."

"What was it?"

"That's not important now," Squall interrupted. He could tell Litta didn't really want to talk about it and he wanted to avoid another argument between Irvine and Litta.

"But it's her fault we're all in Esthar," Irvine persisted.

"Would you rather be somewhere else?" Irvine shrugged his shoulders. "Unless you want to take over as leader, I suggest you keep your mouth shut." Squall turned away from Irvine, who was now looking at the ground.

_Why did Squall defend me like that,_ Litta wondered. _I could have handled Irvine. Does he think I'm a child or something? Is that why he came after me, because he thinks __I need protecting?_

"What now Vincent?" Squall asked.

"Let's take down Sephiroth!" Yuffie jumped in the air to emphasize her point.

"Calm down Yuffie. We can't take on Sephiroth before we know how strong he is. Let's find a place to stay the night," Vincent said. They moved into the city to find a hotel.

"Rufus, where is my daughter?"

"I hadn't expected you back so soon, Sephiroth. I'm afraid we let her get away, but the chip was successfully implanted."

"Good. Find her now," he commanded.

"One minute." Rufus went to his computer and clicked a few buttons. "Ah, here she is. Right now she is in Esthar. Would you like me to send someone to fetch her for you?"

"No. You couldn't keep her here, what makes you think you can bring her back? I'll get her myself." The door shut behind him.

After everyone had their room, they met in Squall and Vincent's room to discuss what to do next.

"How are we going to find out how strong Sephiroth is without battling him?" Zell asked. "I mean, it's not like we can look up his records or anything."

"Zell's got a point," Litta added.

"Are you saying we should battle Sephiroth?" Squall asked her.

"No, but we won't know how strong he is unless we fight him. Couldn't we just run away after we know, then figure out how to beat him next time?"

"Sephiroth won't let us escape," Vincent told her. "Once we're in that battle, we have to fight it out, to the end."

"So what do we do then?" Irvine asked. "We can't just sit around here and wait for Sephiroth to find us."

"You're right, we can't," Squall told him. "But we need to practice fighting before we fight him so we'll at least be somewhat prepared."

"I agree," Vincent said. "We should practice. Irvine can give Litta a few more pointers since he's the one with the most gun experience."

"I'd be happy to lend my knowledge to Litta," he said. _That's asking for trouble,_ Squall thought, _but there isn't another person here with more experience than Irvine. Maybe they'll be all right. He can't do that much harm. She'll probably do more harm to him._

"Let's sleep tonight and practice in the morning though," Yuffie suggested. "We'll do better when we're wide awake." Everyone agreed and headed to their room. Yuffie and Litta were sharing a room, so were Zell and Irvine. Squall and Vincent were the first ones up the next morning, so they decided to wake everyone else up. Squall was to wake up Litta and Yuffie while Vincent woke up the other two. Squall pounded on Litta and Yuffie's door.

"Wake up in there!" No answer. "Wake up!" Still no answer. Squall would have broken down the door, but it was a hotel and he could get in trouble for that. He pounded continually on the door for the next five minutes, and eventually he heard someone come to open the door.

"Who's there?" asked a sleepy sounding Litta.

"It's Squall, open up." Slowly the door opened. Squall looked into the face of a very tired looking Litta, with major bed head.

"What do you want at," she paused to look at the clock, "five-thirty in the morning?"

"It's time to get up. We're going to go practice."

"Now?"

"Yes now. Get Yuffie up and meet us downstairs in ten minutes."

"Ok." She closed the door in Squall's face without a second look. Vincent walked over to where Squall still stood.

"Are they up?"

"I guess. Are the other two?" Vincent nodded. "Let's head downstairs then."

Ten minutes later everyone was downstairs in the lobby. Squall led them outside the city into a nearby forest where there was a little more privacy, and secrecy. Squall went to one area to practice with Yuffie, and Vincent went to another area with Zell. Irvine took Litta a little farther away to practice with her gun.

"Why are we so much farther away from the others?" Litta asked him. She was somewhat suspicious of Irvine's motives.

"I thought it would be safer. If they're farther away, they are less likely to be hit by a stray bullet."

"Oh," she said. _It seems reasonable enough, I guess._ "So what do we do first?"

"Well, to make it easier on yourself, you ought to take off your jacket. Otherwise you'll probably get really hot." He took his own coat off as well. She followed his advice. "Now, how well can you aim?"

"Pretty well I think."

"Show me." So she pulled out her gun, found a target, aimed, and fired. She hit the tree right where she had been aiming for. "Not bad. How about moving targets, though?" He picked an apple off a tree. "When I throw this up, aim for where it's going to be, not at the apple itself." He tossed it in the air. She aimed just below it but missed by a second.

"I thought you told me to aim where it was going to be?"

"I did, but you still were following the apple. You have to see its path and choose a spot on the path. When it's about two seconds away, fire. Try again." He tossed another apple. She tried to see a path, fired, but just barely hit the top.

"Good, you're getting better. Watch me this time." So she went and tossed an apple in the air. He waited, fired, and hit the apple dead on.

"But it looks like your doing the exact same thing I was. What am I doing wrong?"

"Come here. For one thing, your stance is all wrong. When you're fighting someone, you don't have time to stand and then fire. You just have to fire from wherever you are. Go ahead and stand the way you normally do." She got ready to fire.

"So how do you practice a firing stance?" He came up behind her. Squall came up to see how they were doing at that moment. He stood off to the side and watched.

"Relax. Firing a gun should become like a reflex. Loosen up your arm here," he placed his hand on her arm to show her. "Now bend your knees a little and pull your shoulders back," he put a hand on each shoulder and gently pulled back till he was satisfied. He stepped back.

Squall had been watching and wasn't too happy. _How could she let him touch her,_ he thought. _He just wants to get close to her. Doesn't she realize that? Maybe she doesn't, but I know exactly what he's thinking. He must be so happy to be that close to her. I should probably get back to Yuffie pretty soon before she comes looking for me._ He walked off silently without ever disturbing the other two.

"This is a little more comfortable. But how will I remember to not get into this stance when I'm about to fire?"

"When you fire you need to be relaxed. So when you practice, practice shooting different targets in different positions; but always remember to relax. Now try shooting the apple again." This time she hit it.

"Yes! I hit it!"

"Good job." They practiced a few more times with the apple until she only missed once here or there. "You've improved a lot. Now try hitting something you can't see."

"If I can't see it how can I aim at it though?"

"Good question. First I want to see how you think you should do it. Then I'll show you the proper way. Turn around."

She did as Irvine instructed. _He does seem to know what he's doing. I guess maybe there wasn't any reason to be suspicious of him after all._ She turned her attention back to what he was saying.

"Now, follow my voice. When I say fire, I want you to turn around to where you think I am and fire."

"But what if I hit you?"

"If you do eventually hit me, when you get the hang of this, I'll use magic to heal myself. You should know that."

"Oh, right." _Why would I think of that, I don't use magic. Maybe I should start. Hmmm, I'll ask Squall about it later._

"Ok. Ready, fire!" She turned around and fired. She was off by more than five feet.

"How could I be that far off?"

"Voices can sound close when they're far, and far when they're close. Don't trust your ears, trust your instincts. If you think someone is closer than they sound fire closer. You'll find that when your instincts get better, they're often more accurate than your other senses."

"Can we try it again?"

"Of course. Turn around. Ready...fire!" She turned and fired, and was a little closer, but still nowhere near Irvine. "Maybe I should show you how it's done."

"Would you? Oh, but wait, you'll hit me. I don't really want to be shot."

"Don't worry. I'll fire right above your head so I won't actually hit you."

Litta moved around a little while Irvine turned around. When she was ready, she yelled, "Fire!" Irvine turned around and shot right above her head. She didn't speak. "I didn't hit you did I?"

"No, but you came awfully close."

"Sorry. Why don't you try it again." She turned around and waited. "Fire!" She turned and hit his arm.

"Sorry!"

"Don't worry. But look, you actually hit me. A little off still, but you hit me."

"I guess that's good, but I really didn't want to hit you."

"Curaga." His wound healed in front of her eyes. The bullet dropped to the ground.

"I really ought to learn how to use that stuff," Litta mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's get back to practicing. But can we try something else?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

"No, I just would rather do something that doesn't involve firing at you."

"All right, let's try this. We both go into the other end of the woods, even farther away from everyone else, and we'll hide. After a minute, we'll try to find each other. Whoever gets shot first loses."

"But neither of us wants to get shot."

"You mean you don't want to get shot."

"Hey!" Irvine had already stared sprinting towards the other end of the forest. Litta ran to catch up. When they arrived, they each hid and after one minute started hunting for one another.

Litta heard something behind her and turned. She saw Irvine a split second before he fired. She dodged and ran. When she was a distance off, she circled around and came up behind Irvine. She was careful to watch where she stepped to make sure she avoided making noise. She aimed and fired. He had heard her though. He dodged her bullet and fired back. He hit her in the chest. She fell back.


	5. A Battle With Results

**Chapter 5**

"Squall, where are you going this time?" Yuffie wanted to practice some more.

"I just want to make sure Irvine and Litta aren't hurt."

"I'm sure their fine, and Irvine has magic anyways. We came out here so we could practice. Now come on, practice!" She charged at him and kept him busy, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Litta, did I hit you?" He finally came up beside her. "I'm sorry, maybe it was a bad idea to aim for one another. Hold on. Curaga." Nothing happened. "Hey, what gives? Oh no, I'm out. Come on."

He picked her up and ran threw the forest. He headed in the direction of Vincent and Zell, wanting to avoid Squall. He came to where they were fighting and called Vincent.

"What happened?" Zell and Vincent asked in unison.

"We were practicing aiming at each other like a game. I figured whoever got hit, I would use my magic. Only when I tried to use it on her, I found out I had already used all of mine up. Can you heal her Vincent?"

"I'm afraid my materia is over with Yuffie and Squall. Zell?"

"I've been out of magic for weeks now. We better get her to Squall quick." Irvine picked her up again and took her to Squall.

Litta had been thinking while everyone talked around her. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, is that what he said? I told him that from the beginning! Why wouldn't he listen to me? Did he plan on killing me? No, I'm overreacting. He didn't mean any harm by it. He was just helping me practice. I'm sure he feels bad. It was just a game. He couldn't have known he was out of magic. I'll ask him about it later. _They came up to Squall and Yuffie.

"Irvine what did you do!" Squall screamed.

"It was just a game. I was going to heal her but I'm out of magic. It was an accident, I swear."

"Shooting her was an accident?" Squall was furious. Irvine stopped trying to explain.

Squall took Litta from Irvine and set her gently on the ground. Everyone else left them, not wanting to embarrass Litta any more than necessary. Irvine especially didn't want to face her, afraid she too would be furious with him.

Squall used Curaga on her and her wound healed. He helped her sit up slowly. She didn't say anything for a while, so they sat in silence.

"Thank you," Litta said after a while.

"Your welcome. How are you feeling?"

"Ok I guess. A little tired, but I'll be fine. Where is everyone?"

"They left."

"Why?"

"Probably so they wouldn't embarrass you."

"Oh. How's Irvine?"

"He's worried about you. He seemed pretty upset by what happened. What exactly did happen anyway?" _Not that I really want to know,_ he thought.

"Well, he had been teaching me different things and helping me improve things like my stance." _I remember that clearly,_ Squall thought. "Then he thought we should try shooting at each other to practice shooting at people. So we tried and I almost hit him, but he was a second quicker and got me first. He tried healing me but he was out of magic so-"

"I know what happened from there," Squall interrupted. "Did you enjoy working with him?"

"I guess so. He taught me a lot of good things. You seem almost angry about my being taught by him. Do you have something against Irvine?"

"No." _Only his touching you and being that close to you, especially since you seem fine with it. _"I'm just upset at what happened, that's all." He paused to think for a minute. "Why don't we go back to the hotel and you can rest up a bit. When you feel up to it then we can come back out for some more practice."

"Sure. Should we go find the others?"

"Yeah." He helped Litta to her feet. "Can you walk all right?" She seemed a little unsteady.

"I think s-" She fell into Squall before she could finish her sentence.

"I guess that answers my question." So he picked her up and carried her. Then they went in search of the others. Once they were together, they headed back to the hotel.

When they got there, it was already five in the evening. Zell and Yuffie went in search of food, while Vincent pulled Squall aside to talk about some things. Irvine put Litta into her room and stayed to talk with her.

"I'm really sorry about what happened. You aren't mad at me are you?"

"No. I know it was an accident about the magic. At least Squall had some. You helped me learn a lot of important things today. I appreciate that."

"Well I'm glad I could help. Any time you want some pointers I'll be glad to comply."

"Thanks." _Maybe he's not so bad after all. He couldn't have meant to hurt me, that wouldn't make sense. But there seems to be some sort of friction between him and Squall. Maybe just Squall. I don't know._

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh nothing. So what are we going to do the rest of the day?"

"I'll go ask Squall." He left her alone for a few minutes. Then Squall walked in.

"Where's Irvine?" Litta asked him.

"Vincent wanted to give him a few tips, that's all. Irvine said you wanted to know what we're going to do now?"

"That's right. I don't feel like sitting here all day."

"Well we can go practice some more if you like, but I just figured you would want to rest."

"I did rest, while you carried me over here."

"You could have told me that."

"But it wouldn't have been as fun." He gave her a scowl. "So can we go practice some more?"

"Sure. Let me go tell Vincent." He walked out of the room. When he came back in a minute later, Litta was on her feet and ready.

"Let's go."

"Vincent is going to come with us. Irvine went to catch up with Zell and Yuffie to find some supper."

"Ok. Are we going to the same spot?"

"Probably." They walked back to the forest, but Vincent went off to practice with himself or something, they weren't sure.

"Litta, I want you to fire a few shots at me and I'll block them with my blade. Then you can practice firing and dodging bullets." She fired three shots. She dodged three shots. "Good. Try more than three." She tried six. She barely missed being hit by the last one. "Now try continually firing while we both move." She did and found she had to move more to fire and then dodge the bullets. As she was firing, one of her bullets grazed Squall's arm. She stopped firing.

"Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine." He used his magic to heal himself. "See?" She remembered her question from earlier.

"Can you teach me how to use magic?"

"It's not hard. When you fight a monster, draw magic from it. There aren't many areas now where there are monsters, but they're still around. For now, I'll give you some of mine." She didn't really see anything happen, but she felt something enter her in a way. She couldn't explain it.

"But how do I use it?"

"Say you were hurt, like I was. Just say Curaga or another healing medicine, and you'll heal yourself. Or if you were fighting something you could say Firaga, and a fire ball would hit your enemy. But once you run out, you have to draw more or else you're out for good."

"I see." She thought about all this new information. "Can I draw from people?"

"You can, like you could draw more magic from me or trade me magic, but most people won't let you. You mainly get it from monsters."

Suddenly, they heard the rustling of the leaves and saw Sephiroth coming towards them. They sky was starting to cloud over and thunder could be heard in the distance. Rain drops started falling softly.

"It's good to see you again Litta," he said. He stood right in front of them.

"What do you want Sephiroth?" Squall asked.

"This does not concern you Squall. This is between my daughter and me." He looked past Squall at Litta and continued talking. "Why did you run away from the Shin-Ra building?"

"I didn't want to be around those Turks. They don't do anything but hurt people."

"They were only doing what I asked them to. They wouldn't have hurt you." He talked in a soothing manner, but she stayed aware of what he said.

"What do you want?" Litta wasn't even sure.

"I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Many things. I need to explain some things to you to help you understand things that are going to happen soon."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"I'm afraid you have no choice. I am your father; you will do as you're told."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll force you."

"You can't force her to do anything," Squall said.

"I'll advise you not to interfere with things that do not concern you."

"Litta is my concern, so I have every right to interfere." _What does he mean I'm his concern?_

"Is that so? Well, can you protect her from me?" He pulled out his masamune. Squall already had his blade up and ready. Litta loaded her gun.

Sephiroth made the first move. He swung his blade at Squall, but Squall blocked. They fought hard and moved around too much for Litta to get a clear shot. Then, from out of nowhere, Vincent sent a shot off that would have hit Sephiroth, but Sephiroth stopped it.

"Nice to see you again Vincent."

"Too bad I can't say the same for you." Sephiroth caught Squall off guard and cut his shoulder. "Pay attention. You might get yourself killed." Squall healed himself and charged at Sephiroth. They went back and forth exchanging attacks, every once in a while Vincent getting a shot in.

Litta watched but felt helpless. _I can't even help my friends. I'm no good in a battle. Maybe I never will be. Isn't there anything that I can do to help?_ She thought of her magic. She quietly said "Firaga" and a fireball hit Sephiroth, but it also hit Squall.

"Watch where you aim!" Squall shouted.

"I see you have obtained some magic, but still need to learn to use it," Sephiroth said. "I could help you master your magic."

"No thanks. My friends can help me with that."

"I see." He went after Squall again. This time Squall was prepared. He dodged and quickly sent a blow to Sephiroth's back. It hit perfectly. Squall was breathing hard, though. Everyone could see it.

"You're tiring out," Sephiroth pointed out.

"I'm doing just fine." Litta knew he wouldn't last much longer. So did Sephiroth. He took a swing at Squall, knowing he would dodge. When Squall did, Sephiroth swung at his back. Litta could see the blood from the gash. Squall fell and did not move. Litta ran to his side.

"He just wasn't prepared." Sephiroth shook his head. Vincent was furious. He doubled over in pain, and Litta heard him mumble something like, "Not now."

"Why can't you just leave me alone!" she screamed at Sephiroth.

"I will leave you for now then, but I will be back for you. And when I come your friends won't be able to keep you from me." He began moving off and Litta looked back at Vincent. She noticed he had changed since she had last looked at him. He was starting to look like an animal. He no longer looked like Vincent now. _He looks like a monster._ He started moving, and ran off after Sephiroth.

Litta turned back to Squall. He still hadn't moved since he had fallen. She didn't remember her magic. _Why did this have to happen to me? I finally find some friends, and now my father has to come and ruin it all. I even found a guy that I like but my father has to kill him. I can't heal him so I get to sit here and watch him die. Why? He and I get along and he seems to understand me. He's the first person who's actually gotten to know me. He seems to care about the way I feel. I know I care about him._ Squall started moving, which pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What did you say?" She realized she had said that last part out loud.

"Uh, I, well, nothing. I didn't say anything," she sputtered.

"Could you use," he paused for a gasp of air, "your magic?"

"Oh, I forgot." She watched as his wound slowly healed up. He sat up.

"Really, what did you say?" She looked up him. He didn't look upset, nor like he was teasing her.

"I just said, that," she breathed, _man this is hard to say_, "that I care about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She wouldn't look into his face.

"I wasn't sure how you felt so I never told you my feelings." Now she looked up.

"Your feelings?"

"For you."

"Feelings for me?" He nodded. He looked around for a second realizing he hadn't seen or heard Vincent. He still didn't see him.

"Where's Vincent?"

"Oh, I completely forgot about him." She tried to stay calm when he changed the subject. _Will I ever find out how he feels about me?_ "He," she thought about what she had seen. "He, changed, into a, well, into a monster. Then he ran off after Sephiroth."

"Oh no."

"What?"

"Vincent should be the one to tell you this, but right now we need to go find him. Which way did he go?" She pointed in a direction. "Come on," was all he said before he started walking.

"Why do we need to find him? What's wrong with him?"

"I'm going to let Vincent explain that to you when we catch up with him." He said no more, not even to her further questions. So she stopped trying to talk to him.

They walked for half an hour before they saw a figure lying on the ground up ahead. Squall sprinted to it, and Litta followed. It was Vincent.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing. He's at perfect health. He's just unconscious." Vincent started to stir and move around. He groaned and looked up at Squall.

"Guess I couldn't control it this time."

"What happened to Sephiroth?" Squall asked.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything after," he looked at Litta. "Did you tell her?"

"Not yet. I thought you should be the one to."

"Thanks."

"What are you guys not telling me?" Before they could answer, Zell, Irvine, and Yuffie came running up.

"We came running when we saw the fireworks," Zell said. "What happened?"

"Sephiroth attacked." Vincent explained.

"What happened to you?" Irvine asked Vincent.

"Just got knocked out, that's all." He caught Yuffie's eyes on him and nodded. She knew exactly what had happened.

"Where did Sephiroth go?" Zell asked. "I want to get a chance at him."

"If I couldn't stand up to him, what chance do you think you'd have against him?" Vincent asked. Zell made no comment.

"Vincent, could I talk to you for a second?" Squall pulled him aside. "I think you should tell Litta. She's going to keep asking if you don't."

"I don't want to scare her and have her run away again, especially when Rufus and Sephiroth are both after her."

"She saw you change though, and she needs to know what she saw. If you don't, then Sephiroth will when we meet him next time."

"When he comes back we'll be ready for him."

"Oh really, and what is your plan oh brave and fearless leader."

"I never said I was any of those things. I'm not sure what we should do now, but I know we need to keep moving," Vincent stated.

"It won't do any good no matter where we go until that tracking devise is out of Litta." Vincent thought for a moment.

"We'll have to worry about that later, right now-"

"Right now is no good if Rufus and Sephiroth can track every step we take. That tracking devise has to come out, now."

"And how do you plan to take it out of her Squall? Do you know how to surgically remove it? Do you even know where it is?" Squall shook his head. "Why don't you talk to Litta and I'll tell the others what happened."

"Fine." When they rejoined the group, Vincent started telling everyone what had happened and Squall pulled Litta aside. Irvine noticed this but said nothing.

"What?" she asked.

"When you were at Shin-Ra, and they put the tracking devise in you, do you remember where they put it?" She really didn't want to remember and had been trying to forget about that, but now she thought about what had been said.

"Rufus said something about putting it in the same shoulder. I guess that's where they put it, but I have no idea which one."

"Well at least we know it's in one of two places. Now we just need to figure out which shoulder, and then how to get it out of you."

"Nobody in our group has any experience with surgery though, am I right?"

"Yes, and that's the problem. Rufus is the only one who knows anything about this chip, and he probably has some sort of defense mechanism programmed in case anyone tries to take it out." Litta didn't want to hear that.

"So what exactly are you going to do? I mean, what can you do?"

"I don't know really, but I know a few people that might be able to help you, or at least know someone else who can help you."

"I don't want to go from one doctor to the next. I want to get this thing out. If we can figure out which shoulder it's in, shouldn't we be able to just cut it out?"

"We probably could, but if my guess is correct something might happen. This devise will do something to keep it from being removed or destroyed."

"But it's only a piece of metal, it's not like it can think or anything. Can it?"

"I don't know. That's why I want to take you to a doctor."

"Will everyone go with us?" _I don't want to drag everyone into my problems. Shouldn't they be able to live their life without having to save mine time after time?_

"I'm going to try to get Irvine and Zell to go home. I think they're tired of saving the world and fighting all the time." _Why does he always seem so intent upon getting rid of Irvine? It's like he has some sort of a grudge against him. But what for?_ Squall headed back towards the group and Litta followed.

"So we basically missed all the good stuff," Zell complained.

"If you consider getting beaten good stuff, then yes."

"If I had been there, Sephiroth would have been the one on the ground, not you Vincent."

"Maybe, but that is still to be decided." He noticed Squall and Litta had come back to the group.

"Any thoughts?" he asked Squall.

"I need to talk to Zell and Irvine alone for a little bit." He pulled them over to the side.

"What's up Squall?"

"Zell, Irvine, I think you guys ought to go back to Balamb."

"No way!" Zell shouted. "We're not leaving right when things are getting interesting. Isn't that right Irvine?"

"I'm getting tired of the fighting Zell." Zell looked shocked. "Someone's always the enemy, someone's always the good guy, and there's always someone else to defeat. It never ends. I want to retire and live my life."

"I think that's a good idea Irvine."

"Of course you do Squall. You would do anything to keep me away from Litta. Well it looks like your plan worked this time. She's all yours. I'm heading home." He walked off without another word. Zell looked at Squall for an explanation.

"Is there something between you three that I've completely missed?"

"No. Irvine meant exactly what he said. The fighting will never end. There's always someone still out there. I just thought you would want to get away and live your life."

"Right. You mean stop fighting and let you take all the credit. I don't think so."

"It's only going to go downhill from here Zell. And I mean that to the gravest degree."

"I know what you mean. I want to keep fighting; only half of me is with Irvine."

"So why not go with him?"

"I don't know. I want to stay, but I just don't want this fight to be my last; especially when I have unfinished business with some bullies back home."

"You always have unfinished business."

"I think maybe I'll go with Irvine. Maybe I'll change my mind. I don't know for sure. I guess I'll see you later Squall." Zell ran to catch up with Irvine. _Well at least I know they're out of danger, for now. And that's less people I have to worry about keeping track of. _He headed back over to Vincent.

"They're going home?"

"Yeah. They want a break from the fighting or something like that." Litta guessed there was more to the story that Squall wasn't telling, but said nothing.

"Where's Yuffie?" Squall noticed she was missing.

"She went back to see if her town was ok," Vincent explained. "She wanted to make sure Sephiroth hadn't been there yet, and to warn everyone. So for now it's just us three." Squall nodded.

"So where are we going now?" asked Litta. She was pretty sure she already knew though.

"That question is for Squall." She looked over at Squall.

"I think we'll head back to Esthar. I know Laguna, and he can probably help us the most right now."

"Who's Laguna?" Litta asked. Vincent also looked at Squall.

"I know the name but don't know who to connect it to," he added.

"He's an old friend. It's hard to explain, but I'll tell you while we walk."


	6. Surgery

**Chapter 6**

So as the three walked back to Esthar he explained about Ellone and everything he knew about Laguna. He talked about his own personal experiences with Laguna. Once he was finished he answered Litta's questions.

"So is he a surgeon?"

"No."

"Then why are we going to see him?"

"He's a brilliant man and knows a lot about science. He's taken some classes and has some experience with surgery. He's the only person I can think of that would know how to get that thing out of you without going to Rufus himself." Litta shuttered at the mention of Rufus. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought him up."

"No, I need to learn to deal with him. I'm pretty sure I'll have to deal with him again in the future."

"You're probably right." Squall noticed the way Litta looked at the ground. "Hey, look up. Don't worry about Rufus. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"And if the river swallows us whole?" she asked continuing with the metaphor Squall had used.

"It won't. I won't let it swallow all of us." A silence fell on the group after that.

_What does he mean he won't let it swallow all of us? Would he sacrifice himself to save Vincent and me? It won't come to that. I won't let that happen._ She stopped thinking about that and about Esthar. When they got there, Squall led the way to Laguna and got them in with no problems.

"Squall, it's good to see you again."

"It's been a while, Laguna."

"So what brings you to me? Good news I hope?"

"I'm afraid not." He told Laguna about the tracking devise in Litta and what needed to be done.

"Hmmm, a dilemma indeed. Come here," he told Litta. She obeyed. He pulled out a machine and held it over each shoulder. "It appears that this tracer is in her left shoulder."

"How do you know that?" asked Litta.

"This machine tells me if there is any active machinery in your body. It turns red if no, and green if yes. On your left shoulder it turned green, see?" He put it over her shoulder and the light turned green. He put the machine away.

"So can you get it out of her?" Squall asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll need to run some tests and analyses of it, but I think I can probably do it. Why is this so important?" He looked at Squall.

"It's a long story. Maybe I can tell you later but for now just do it." Laguna left Squall and Vincent in the room and took Litta with him to another room. He set up some tests to run, and had her lie down on a table.

"This won't hurt. Just lie still." He ran the tests and, true to his word, they didn't hurt. She got up and he led her back to Squall and Vincent.

"Well, it seems simple enough to remove, but there is a defense mechanism. I'm going to need to play around with it for a little while before I operate. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing." He left the room again, leaving them to talk and wander around.

"So what now? We just wait until he comes back?" Litta wasn't fond of waiting.

"Wouldn't you rather have him know what he's doing than just operating?" Squall asked her. She nodded. "We'll just have to wait until he comes back."

"If it's all right with you Squall," Vincent asked, "I'm going to head out for a little while."

"That's fine." Squall had learned not to ask questions. Vincent knew what he was doing.

"Where is Vincent going?" Litta asked.

"I don't know, but Vincent knows what he's doing."

"So if Laguna can't operate on me, what then? Where will we go next?"

"Don't think like that. Laguna will be able to take that thing out of you, I'm sure of it."

"But if he can't?" _If he can't then you don't know what we will do. You don't know where else to go._

"I said don't think about that. I don't know what we'll do if he can't get that thing out, so don't ask me." He walked out of the room and left Litta alone.

She walked around the office a little, looked at some of the books on the bookshelf, but decided to see where Squall went. She walked out the door and followed the hallway towards the elevator. She went to the first floor and looked around. Squall seemed to have left the building completely.

_Wait, I can't leave. What if Laguna comes looking for us? He won't know where we went. But I don't know what to say, only Squall really knows what to do. Why did he have to leave? But maybe that's my fault. If I hadn't kept asking him about this then he wouldn't have gotten so riled up. But should I follow him or stay here?_ She decided to leave when Laguna came looking for her.

"I wondered where you had gone. Why did you leave?"

"I came out looking for Squall."

"Oh. Why did he leave?"

"I don't know."

"Well I guess I'll have to do this without him. Come on, I'm going to take that thing out of you."

"Shouldn't you tell Squall?" She really didn't want to do this without Squall.

"No. If he comes back I'll make sure someone tells him what we're doing. Now come on, don't you want that thing out of you?"

"Yes." She followed him back up into the operating room. He gave her a shot with some numbing medicine in it. Her left shoulder went numb and Laguna went to work. Nothing happened at first, but she suddenly started to feel weak. She noticed some of the bars on the computer screen monitor were moving down and others up.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"The devise is draining your energy for itself. Keep holding on." A few minutes went by and Squall entered the room. His face showed no emotion, yet.

"How is everything going?"

"Fine, for now. Her energy is being drained, but that's better than dealing with a defense mechanism."

"Can I help?"

"Not right now. Just stand by the wall for now. If I need you I'll let you know." He went back to work in silence. No one said anything to disrupt it. As if on cue, she started shaking. Then her legs started kicking and her arms jerked violently. Laguna called Squall over immediately.

"Hold her still. This is the defense mechanism. If I'm not careful," he didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to. They knew what would happen. Litta couldn't control herself and couldn't think straight. Squall was having a difficult time holding her still. He noticed some bars on the computer screen going down and others going up.

"What do these bars mean?" Laguna looked up.

"It means if I don't get this out of her soon, her lungs will shut down and then her heart. I don't think we want that to happen so just keep her still." Squall did as he was told, but keeping Litta still was no easy task. He was able to keep her under control for a little while and Laguna finally pulled out the devise.

"That little thing caused all this trouble?" Squall asked.

"Hard to believe isn't it. But if it's all right with you, I'd like to keep it and see how it works."

"You ought to destroy it. That's how Sephiroth found us, so if you want to invite him for tea be my guest and keep it. Otherwise, I suggest you get rid of it."

"You may be right." At that moment, the bars on the computer screen went blank.

"What's wrong?" He looked at Litta who didn't appear to be breathing.

"It looks like her lungs quit working. If we don't get them working again soon her heart will give out." He told Squall to leave the room and he stood in the hallway.

_How is he going to get her lungs to work again? They've always had trouble with that in hospitals. How can he do it in a few minutes? What if he doesn't and her heart fails? I'll never get to tell her how I feel. I should have told her when she told me. Why am I so afraid of being attached to people?_ Laguna opened the door.

"You can come back in. She's unconscious, but alive."

"When will she wake up?"

"I don't know. But for now she needs to rest. Where are you staying?" Squall told him the hotel name. "Where's your friend?"

"He left. He'll be back though."

"For now, why don't you go back to the hotel and when your friend comes back I'll let him know. That way Litta can continue resting."

"Sounds good."

"You know what, I'll give you a ride over there. Not me personally, but I'll have one of my helpers give you a ride. That way you don't have to walk."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Wait downstairs and I'll send someone down." Squall left, with Litta in his arms. A few minutes later someone came down to give them a ride. Vincent arrived at that time and Squall filled him in on the way over to the hotel.


	7. A Dagger of Regret

**Chapter 7**

After getting back to the hotel, Vincent started asking questions. "What are you planning to do when Litta wakes up?"

"I was thinking about going to see another friend of mine. She's very smart and usually has good ideas."

"And who is this friend you speak of?"

"Her name is Quistis."

"Yes, I remember you mentioning her before. What do you want to see her for?"

"I thought she might be able to help us. I'm going to see her now. Watch Litta for me." Squall left with Litta in Vincent's arms.

Vincent went up to the rooms and placed her on a bed. He checked in on her every hour. After about two and half hours, she began to stir. She didn't recognize anything and wondered where she was. The last thing she remembered was being operated on by Laguna. She lay there and Vincent came in.

"I thought I heard you stirring. How are you feeling?"

"Tired mainly. Where am I?"

"You're at the hotel. Laguna gave us a ride over here. You were unconscious the whole way over."

"And where's Squall?" She assumed he was in another room.

"He went to see a friend." She hid her disappointment, but not well enough. Vincent noticed it. "You seem disappointed."

"Not really," she lied.

"No? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No. Why?"

"I'm just guessing, but I think you have feelings for Squall."

"Why would you think that?"

"Oh I don't know. Am I wrong?" She didn't answer. "I didn't think so. Have you told him?"

"Yes I have." _Not that it mattered to Squall though. He just ignored it and asked about Vincent. I'm obviously not that important to him._

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing. He asked a question and changed the subject."

"Oh." Vincent seemed surprised but Litta didn't notice.

"Which friend is he visiting?"

"Her name is Quistis." _Not what I needed to hear,_ she thought.

"When will he be back?"

"I'm not sure."

"So what are we supposed to do for now? Wait until he gets back?"

"I suppose so. Is there anything I can get you?"

"No. Just let me rest." Vincent left without another word.

_So Squall went to see one of his friends. And a girl, no less. Does he even care what happens to me now? Probably not. That's why I told myself to never get attached. I was protecting myself against this. Well now I went and got myself hurt. I should leave now and rid Squall of myself. That's exactly what I'll do._ But when she tried to get up, she could only get half way. _Maybe I should sleep and leave in the middle of the night. Squall won't be able to find me, and I'll be more rested._

So at about three in the morning, a quiet alarm went off and woke up Litta. She turned it off so it wouldn't wake Vincent or Squall. She got her guns and loaded them. _I may not need them, but I better be prepared. _She closed her door quietly and walked out of the hotel. She looked back at their two windows, but both were still dark. She walked out of the city and didn't turn back.

"Squall, what are you doing here?" Quistis smiled.

"Hello Quistis. How are you?" Squall asked.

"I'm fine. It's been a while since I've heard from you. What's been happening with you?" She opened the door and let him in.

"It's a very long story, but I need your advice."

"Sit down. Now what's going on?" He told her everything that had happened and that took him up until the evening. "So what exactly did you come here for?"

"I was wondering what you thought we should do?"

"I think you ought to stay here until Litta is healed up. Then ask her what she thinks you should do. I'm sure she has ideas." Squall had never thought of that. He had always made the decisions with Vincent. He was more of the leader now than Vincent.

"Maybe your right. But once she's healed up, where should we go? We can't stay in one place too long. Sephiroth will find us. And no one knows what he'll make Litta do."

"That's true. But as I said before, talk to Litta. He is her father, and she might have an idea."

"I think you're right." He thought for a while before Quistis spoke again.

"So about Litta, do you like her?" _How does everyone catch on to that? Is it really that obvious?_

"Only as a friend."

"You never were good about sharing your feelings. That much hasn't changed."

"What does that matter?"

"Because one day you'll like a girl and because of your unwillingness to share your feelings, she'll slip away from you. You won't be able to get her back and you'll be miserable."

"I won't let that happen, when I find that person."

"Well, it's getting late. You should probably go back."

"Thanks a lot for the help."

"Any time. Bye Squall."

"Bye." He left and headed back for the hotel. When he got there, Litta was sleeping so he didn't disturb her. He told Vincent what Quistis had said and then they both went to bed. When they woke the next morning, Squall went to check on Litta.

"She's gone!" Squall come back and shouted at Vincent.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"Exactly that. She's not in her room anywhere!"

"The bathroom?"

"I checked there too! Why would she leave!"

"I don't know."

"Where will she go?"

"I don't know that either."

"What did you guys talk about while I was gone?"

"Nothing. I don't know why she would leave, but I do know we should look for her. She can't be that far, she was still tired when I left her." Squall darted out the door and Vincent ran to catch up with him after checking out of the hotel.

"Squall, slow down. We will find her, but there is no reason to kill ourselves now." Squall slowed down but said nothing. Eventually they came to a spot where Litta had obviously been. _I hope she's all right,_ Squall thought to himself.

Litta ran, then walked, then ran some more. She never headed in any direction for long. She thought it would make it harder to track her then. She really had no idea where she should go, but decided it was better than turning back now.

When she stopped to rest a minute, she felt the wind start blowing and heard something in the woods behind her. She got up and started walking. She could hear the steps getting closer. She sprinted but was still exhausted so her pursuer caught up with her quickly. She was turned around, and looked into the darkness. She couldn't see a face.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you know?" She knew that voice, but couldn't quite place it yet.

"No."

"Well, I'll keep it that way until you remember." He dragged her in one certain direction, and it was no use struggling. Finally she recognized the voice. It was Sephiroth.

"What do you want with me Sephiroth?"

"Ah, so you finally figured out who I am." He brought his face into the light. The sky was a light blue now, so there wasn't a way he could have kept his face hidden much longer.

"What do you want with me?" she asked again.

"I would prefer you call me Father."

"I will call you Sephiroth. You're not my father."

"Oh but I am. And as for what I want with you, you'll soon find out." He said no more. Litta continued to struggle but gave up the effort.

"Where are you taking me?" Sephiroth said nothing for a while. He just continued to drag her. "I can walk on my own you know."

"But how do I know you won't try to run away?"

"I can't get away from you because you'll just use your magic and bring me back. Why would I try to get away?"

"That's very good reasoning." He let go of her arm and she walked alongside him.

"Where are we going?" she tried again. No answer. She asked no more questions. They walked for another hour in silence before he stopped them.

"We're here."

"Where's here? What is this place?" She had never been here before.

"This is your old home. Don't you remember it?"

"No. Everything I remember is from a dream, and that's of a mansion of rubble in Midgar. I've never been here."

"It's understandable you don't remember this place. You were born here and lived here until you were almost ten. That's when we moved to the mansion you remember."

"So what are we doing here? And you still haven't told me where here is." _I don't care as long as I don't have to stay with you long. What do you even want with me?_

"Forgive me. We are in another part of Midgar. We are in a different sector, instead of the one you remember. As for what we're doing here, you'll find that out soon enough." He walked inside the house. She had no choice but to follow.

Squall and Vincent came upon more of her tracks, only this time there were some other tracks next to hers.

"Someone's with her," Squall pointed out.

"I see that. But who it is is the question." Neither said what was in their mind. Squall thought of Rufus or a Turk, Vincent thought of Sephiroth. They weren't sure who it actually was. They just followed until they knew someone was following them.

"I know you're following us," Squall yelled behind them. "If you're looking for Litta she's not with us." The steps stopped. Squall and Vincent continued walking. Then someone jumped in front of them. The person thrust a dagger into Squall's stomach and knocked out Vincent.

"It's too bad that Litta isn't with you, but then again that keeps her from getting hurt like you two." It was Tseng.

"What do you want Tseng?" Squall gasped. He was bleeding badly.

"My task is to destroy you by any means possible. And to make sure I do that, I'm going to draw your magic from you so you can't heal yourself." He drew Squall's magic. "Now Rufus wants to see Vincent so he'll be coming with me. As for you, I was just sent to kill you and make sure you didn't interfere. Goodbye Squall." Tseng kicked him in the stomach and more blood came out.

As Tseng walked away Squall thought about Litta. _I shouldn't have left her. I could have kept her from running away. But that's what's keeping her from getting killed right now. Why didn't I tell her how I felt when I had the chance? Now she'll never know how I felt._

He noticed something glowing a few feet away. He dragged himself towards it, and saw a glowing sphere. It was Vincent's materia. _But which one is it? Which one did he say was healing magic?_ He wasn't sure, but knew if he didn't use it he would no doubt die. He used it, and it turned out to be healing magic. He got up and started to run, but stopped.

Should I go after Vincent or Litta? I know where Vincent is going, but they will have no problem killing him. I don't know where Litta is, except that she left some tracks. So who do I go after? Either way, one of them could die. Litta is more defenseless, or is she? She knows how to use her guns. He decided to go after Litta, figuring Vincent would be able to defend himself better.

As he walked in the direction of Litta's footsteps, he stopped every now and then to catch his breath. He was still a little sore from the wound Tseng had given him. It was gone, but he could still feel it. He brought the dagger with him, figuring he could find some use for it later on.

Litta looked around the house a little and noticed how large it was compared to how small it looked from the outside. She wondered how they had lived here for so many years, and how it could still be in as good a condition as it was.

"Why did you bring me here?" He didn't answer her. He didn't even look at her; he was concentrating on something else. "What are you looking at?"

"Old pictures, come see." She walked over and looked where he was looking. She saw pictures of her growing up. Sephiroth appeared in most of them. But never her mother she noticed.

"Where's my mom?"

"She died."

"How did she die?" She saw him take a breath before answering.

"She died from complications." _So he's not going to tell me._

"Who was my mother?"

"We'll talk about that later_." I guess even he has feelings._ "Right now," he turned towards her and she took a step back, "we are going to concentrate on you."

"What do you mean concentrate on me? What do you want with me?"

"Haven't you guessed yet? I see I have plenty of work to do."

"What are you going to work on!" She was angry now at not being told what was going on.

"Calm down my dear. I want to work with you on your magic skills and a few other things. Once you have mastered those skills I need to show you how to battle properly. Then we can concentrate on more important things."

"What important things?" She was almost too afraid to ask, but she had to know.

"Like reading that book of yours." She had forgotten about that book. _I don't even have it anymore. When I gave it to Squall to look at, he never gave it back. Hopefully I can get away before we get to that._

"Why is that book so important?"

"It will bring back a friend who will help me resurrect my mother."

"Your mother?" She found that hard to believe.

"I see you don't know anything about Jenova yet."

"I'm afraid not."

"She is my mother, and I must bring her back. The only way I can do that is with the help of someone else, and only that book can bring her back."

"That's why that book is so important to you."

"Yes. Now, where is it?" She had tried to avoid this.

"Didn't you want to teach me about magic first? Why don't we start with that?"

"Why are you stalling?" He had seen right through her plan. _Now what?_

"I'm not stalling, I just want to learn about magic. Is that so bad?"

"No, only when you're stalling. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing."

"If that's the way you want to do it." He raised his hand and a knife from the table floated in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"Tell me where the book is." She said nothing. The knife moved closer until it was right next to her. "I'll only ask you once more. Where is the book?"

"I don't have it, Squall does." The knife pierced her side. He didn't remove it. She fell to the ground in pain.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die. When I get back, you'll still be alive and I'll heal you. Until then, goodbye." He left and she tried to get up, but failed. It hurt too much.

She waited there for what seemed like forever. She couldn't pull out the knife and she never thought to use her magic. She heard someone coming and assumed it was Sephiroth. _Finally, he's come back to heal me._ But instead of Sephiroth walking through the door, it was Squall. He seemed tired but she didn't notice.

"Litta!" He quickly pulled the knife out and used her magic to heal her up. "What happened?"

"It was Sephiroth. I guess he wanted to keep me from leaving. He said he would heal me when he got back. How did you find me?"

"I followed your tracks."

"Where's Vincent?"

"He was taken by the Turks. I figured I'd come get you and then go after Vincent. Let's go before Sephiroth comes back."

"You seem tired. Are you all right?"

"Just a little accident earlier. I'll be fine." They walked out and hurried into the forest. Sephiroth returned to the house a few hours later.


	8. Pain and Suffering

**Chapter 8**

As Squall led her away, she wondered where they were going.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to the Shin-Ra building to get Vincent back."

"Why didn't you go after him first, instead of me?"

"I figured he could handle himself better."

"So you think I'm defenseless," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" He hadn't quite heard what she had said.

"Nothing." They walked on without another word.

Vincent woke up in an all too familiar room. Nothing but a cot and four walls. He sat up and tried to remember what happened. _I was with Squall, and, someone knocked me out. It had to be one of the Turks, but who?_ As if in answer to his question, Tseng walked in.

"It's nice to see you're finally up Vincent," Tseng said. "Rufus has been waiting for you and is growing impatient. I was sent to-"

"I know what you were sent for," Vincent snapped. He knew all to well what Turks did. "So what are you waiting for? Escort me to Rufus so we can get this over with." Vincent got up and waited for Tseng. Tseng showed him the way, although they both knew he hadn't forgotten.

"Vincent, good to see you again," Rufus greeted him.

"What do you want?"

"My, my, suspicious aren't we?"

"Just get to it."

"Very well. I want you to tell me everything you know concerning that girl Litta."

"I don't know much. No one does."

"Tell me what you do know."

"I know as much as you do. Tell me what you know and I'll know if I have any new information for you."

"Vincent, I could kill you right now, but I'd rather not. If you don't cooperate though, I'm afraid I might become impatient. You wouldn't want that now would you?"

"Litta-" he was interrupted by the alarm.

"Intruders, intruders," was what it repeated over and over again.

"It seems you have business to take care of Rufus," Vincent said.

"I have Turks to do that for me. Now, you were saying-" now he was interrupted by gun shots in the hall. Before he could do anything Squall and Litta came through the door.

"Well, just the person I was looking for." Rufus looked at Litta.

"Vincent, let's go," Squall said.

"Not so fast." Tseng was behind them, along with Rude.

"Fine, we'll beat you nice and slow then," Squall taunted them.

"That's not what's going to happen." He pulled out his gun and fired. Squall reflected it with his blade. It just missed Rude. Rude pulled out a gun but Litta fired hers and hit him in the shoulder.

"Tseng, shoot her!" Rude yelled while he healed himself. Before Tseng could fire though, Rufus told everyone to stop.

"No one is to shoot anyone else. Not even you Tseng."

"Vincent come on, we're getting out of here. You can't tell us not to shoot Rufus," Squall told him. Tseng blocked the door so Squall couldn't leave.

"Move or I'll shoot." Rude grabbed Litta and held a gun to her head.

"If you don't give us your weapons," Rufus said as he looked past Squall at Rude, "then he'll shoot her." Squall looked. He dropped his sword. Vincent dropped his weapons as well.

"Good." Rufus said. "Now that we're all getting along better, we can talk. But I don't want to talk to all of you at once. Rude, take Litta and Squall to another room while I finish talking with Vincent." Tseng took Litta from Rude and took her out. Squall followed, having Rude's gun in his back.

"You stay here," Tseng told Litta. She recognized the room as the one she had been in last time she was here. But then again, they all looked alike so she couldn't be sure.

"Where's Squall?" She noticed he wasn't behind them anymore.

"Rufus had something special in mind for Squall. I'm afraid you won't be seeing him."

"Why? What are you doing to him?" She was almost screaming in Tseng's face.

"No need to yell. We're just seeing what information he knows."

"What are you doing to him though?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Now stay here and I'll be back for you later." He left her alone and locked the door. There was only a cot against a wall. She sat down to think.

_What are they going to do to Squall? And what information are they trying to get out of him? Could it have to do with me? Why do I cause so much trouble? That's all I'm good for._ She fell asleep after a while. She never heard Tseng come in later.

Squall slowly woke up. He remembered Rude knocked him out. He found himself hanging on a wall hooked up to some machine.

"What's going on?" he mumbled.

"Don't worry." He looked up to see Tseng standing with some other man. "You'll know soon enough. You know what to do," he told the other man. _Obviously a doctor or scientist of some sort._

"Where's Litta?"

"She's safe, for now. She'll stay that way longer if you cooperate with us. Turn it on." Squall felt the electrical charges. He didn't yell. "Hmmm. No cry of pain. So, who is Litta? What's so special about her that has Rufus so worried?"

"I don't know who she is." Another charge.

"You're lying. Who is she?" No answer. "If you don't start cooperating I might bring her in here and make you talk."

"You can't make me talk," Squall said, even though he knew it wasn't true.

"You and I both know that's not true. Now, what's so special about her?" He was getting impatient.

"I probably know as much as Rufus. Why don't you ask him what he knows?"

"I'm growing impatient." He nodded at the other man and Squall knew what was coming. He still didn't yell out in pain as Tseng was hoping.

"All I know is that she doesn't remember her past."

"Go on." _Maybe I can just lie myself out of this and keep Litta safe for now. But what do I say?_ He thought of something fast.

"She woke up in Esthar not knowing anything when she was 15, so she's been wandering around ever since." Tseng said nothing, so Squall went on. "Her father was a scientist who was killed by Shin-Ra, and she left with her mother."

"Go on." He had Tseng's full attention now. _At least he won't get Litta now, or electrocute me. Hopefully I can keep this up._

"They ran away to Kalm and stayed there hiding from you. Her mom knew what her father had been up to so when she was found by you, you killed her. Litta ran away because she was scared. You weren't able to find her again."

"Hmmm. I'll be back. Keep him in line while I go talk to Rufus." Tseng walked out of the room.

"So you just do whatever they tell you to?" Squall asked the man.

"Shut up."

"Don't you ever wonder what you're doing?"

"Shut up."

"Are you afraid if you don't do what they tell you they'll kill you?"

"Shut up!" He turned on the machine for a few seconds.

"Can't you see what they're doing? They're hurting innocent people. Do you really want to be a part of that?" The man said nothing. "Why don't you let me go and I'll help you get out of here." Still nothing. _Am I getting through?_

"You can't protect me from them. No one can."

"I can. I have friends in high places. They'll help you."

"No. But I'll-" The door opened and Tseng came in.

"Let him down." The man did. "Come with me Squall. Rufus wants me to put you in a room so he can talk to you in the morning." He led Squall to a room on another floor.

"When do I see Rufus?"

"Tomorrow. Now get some sleep, while you can. I have other business to attend to." Squall wondered what had happened to Vincent.

"So where were we Vincent?" Rufus asked.

"I was about to tell you about Litta."

"That's right. What do you know?"

"She doesn't really remember her past."

"I knew that. She told me that the first time I talked with her. What else do you know? Who are her parents?" _I'll just have to make something up until he's satisfied._

"Her father was a scientist," Vincent lied. "You killed him and his wife. Litta ran away and you couldn't find her."

"Go on." Before he could though, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rufus called out. Tseng came in.

"Squall talked."

"What did he say?" Tseng told him everything Squall had said. "I see. Well Vincent, it seems that you weren't lying to me. Or you and Squall are very good at lying." He took Tseng outside for a private word.

"What shall I do with him now?"

"Put him in a room so I can talk to him tomorrow."

"And the girl?"

"Have some fun tonight." Tseng smiled. He knew what that meant.

"Thank you sir." He left to do what Rufus had told him. Rufus went back in his office. Vincent had gone out the window.

"I'll get you Vincent," Rufus muttered. He decided he would continue with interrogations in the morning.

Litta woke up when someone punched her in the stomach. "Wake up," she was told. She slowly opened her eyes to see another punch coming. She held her stomach.

"What do you want?"

"Rufus gave me the night off, and permission to have some fun with you." He smiled, but she hated the look on his face.

"What did he mean by fun?" He answered by punching her in the stomach, knocking her off the bed. _I guess that answers my question._ He came over to where she had fallen and kicked her in the stomach. He kicked her more than once, and then kicked her in the face.

He pulled her up by her hair and threw her across the room. He came over and knelt down on her, with his knee putting his whole weight on her chest. He was making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

"Get...off...me," she gasped.

"Am I hurting you?" She couldn't answer because he dug his knee deeper in still. "Would you like me to stop?" She couldn't answer. She couldn't breathe anymore. She felt the blackness creeping in to her eyes. Just before she fully blacked out Tseng suddenly stood up off her. She blacked out completely.

Vincent had escaped out of Rufus' window and climbed around to the other side of the building. He knew where they were keeping Litta, and he peeked into her room. He saw Tseng with his knew jammed into her chest, and her gasping for air. He slowly, quietly opened the window and jumped in. He had pulled Tseng off before Tseng even knew what had happened.

"Where did you come from?"

"Get out of here," was all Vincent said.

"I don't think I'm going to be the one leaving." Tseng pulled out his gun and shot Vincent several times in the stomach. He caught Vincent before he hit the ground, and checked his pulse. It stopped. "He won't be causing Rufus any more trouble." He left Litta where she lay.

"Vincent's dead?" Rufus couldn't believe that after all this time Vincent Valentine was finally dead.

"He had no pulse. No one could live much longer after being shot that many times."

"Well, you know what to do with the body." Tseng nodded and left without another word. "Oh and Tseng," he turned. "Bring Squall here." Tseng nodded again. He handed Vincent's body to someone else and went to fetch Squall.

"What do you want?" Squall asked when Tseng walked into his room.

"I see you're already awake. You need to came with me and have a little chat with Rufus."

"What if I don't want to?"

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

"Where are Vincent and Litta?"

"Litta is probably still unconscious and lying on the floor where I left her. As for Vincent, well I just can't say."

"Why is Litta unconscious?" Squall shouted. "And what did you do to Vincent?"

"My, but we are quick to accuse aren't we? What makes you think I did anything to Vincent?"

"You must have, otherwise you would have said what happened."

"Get up. You need to talk to Rufus."

"I'm not moving until you tell me how my friends are." Tseng pulled out his gun and pointed it at Squall.

"Move or I'll shoot."

"If Rufus wants to talk to me then you won't shoot me."

"Who said I would shoot you?" Squall got up and went where Tseng directed.

"Sit down Squall," Rufus told him. "How did you sleep?"

"What do you want Rufus?" He was in no mood for small talk.

"Well if you wish to get straight to the point. What do you know about Litta?"

"Didn't Tseng tell you what I said last night?"

"Yes, but I have reason to believe you're lying. So what do you really know?"

"I know no more than you do," Squall stated simply.

"I see we'll have to do this the hard way." He pushed the intercom button on his desk. "Bring her in." The door opened and Tseng shoved Litta inside. Squall saw how beat up and exhausted she looked.

"What did you do to her?" Squall yelled.

"No need to yell. We can hear you just fine. Now, if you want to keep your friend from any further suffering, tell me what you know about her." Squall thought for a second_. I can't lie with her in the room, but if I tell the truth I'll die and so will Vincent. What do I do?_ "I'm waiting for your answer."

"I'm thinking, hold on," Squall snapped. Rufus nodded and Tseng twisted Litta's arm behind her back. A little more and he would break it.

"I'm not a patient man, Squall. So you had better think faster."

"Fine, she's Vincent's daughter." Litta showed a little surprise, just enough to make Rufus consider it.

"Anything else?"

"No, isn't that enough. Maybe you'd like to talk to Vincent about this. He would know more than me."

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Why not?"

"That's none of your concern."

"You know perfectly well that it's my concern. Now what have you done to him?" Squall was worried that something horrible had happened.

"He's dead!" Litta burst out. Tseng hit her hard across the face and she fell to the ground. She didn't move, she had been knocked unconscious by Tseng again.

"What!" Squall was furious now. He wasn't sitting down anymore and he walked towards Rufus. "Why did you kill him?"

"I was not in control of that situation." He looked at Tseng.

"He was interfering with-"

"INTERFERING!" Squall was livid. Even Rufus was startled by his outburst. Squall turned to face Tseng. "You killed him because he was interfering!"

"Yes," Tseng said hesitantly.

"What was he interfering with?"

"I was having a little fun with Litta and he pulled me off and tried to get me to stop."

"Is that what you call fun?" Squall pointed at where Litta lay on the floor.

"To me, yes," Tseng said calmly. He was still a little afraid of Squall though.

Squall said nothing for a long while, and no one dared talk to him either. He clenched and unclenched his fists, and stared hard at nothing in particular. _What now? Vincent's dead, Litta's unconscious, and I have no power to save either one right now. I can't keep lying, only now they won't be able to check it with Vincent so they won't be as sure if I'm lying._

"If you still expect me to say anything to you," Squall said with forced calmness, "you are sorely mistaken. I want to be taken back to my room." When no one moved, he said, "Now!" Rufus nodded and Tseng took him back to his room, then Litta back to hers.

"I had no idea Vincent would affect Squall that way. He means more to Squall than I expected."

"What now sir? He's not going to tell us anything."

"He will talk. I'll see to that." Rufus turned towards the window and Tseng left the room.

_What do I do now? They will make me talk by using Litta, and I don't know how much longer my lies will last. They'll figure out soon enough that everything I've said is a lie. Once they find that out, who's to say they won't kill me too. I doubt they'll kill Litta, she's too important to them. Even they know that. I need to get her out of here, but how?_

At that moment, a hole was blown through the wall between his room and Litta's. He saw Sephiroth come through the newly made opening. He went into Litta's room and saw how battered and beaten she was. He turned and looked at Squall.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It was Tseng." Squall could tell Sephiroth didn't believe him. "Go ask Rufus yourself. It was Tseng that also killed Vincent." That got Sephiroth's attention.

"Valentine is dead?" Squall nodded. Sephiroth blew another hole through the doors and left. Squall assumed he was going to see Rufus. He took the chance and grabbed Litta. She was conscious, but still asleep. He woke her up.

"What happened?"

"Sephiroth is here. We need to leave while we have the chance. Can you walk?"

"I don't think so. Where's Vincent's body?" She knew there had to be a way to save him.

"We can worry about that later, but right now we need to get out before we die as well."

"I guess." He picked her up gently and carried her out of the building. When they reached the forest he set her down. "What about Vincent's body? After I found out from Tseng that he was dead, I haven't been able to think of anything else. Isn't there some way we can save him?"

"If I can get his body, I think I can save him. I have magic called Full-Life. You can guess what it does." She nodded. "I'll go back and get his body. If I'm not back in one hour, get away from here. Head to Wutai and stay with Yuffie."

"I won't need to go to Yuffie. You'll be back."

"Just in case I don't, you know what to do." He turned around and left.

_Just in case...just in case he dies? But he won't die, he can't. What would I do without him? I would have to listen to Sephiroth, and do whatever he told me to do. I couldn't do that. Even I know what that could mean._ She kept thinking, until she realized it had almost been an hour. She slowly got to her feet.

"Where are you Squall?" she thought aloud. Soon she heard gun shots. Then nothing. She waited a few more minutes, and when she was about to leave Squall ran up with Vincent's body. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Hold on while I try to heal Vincent." He laid the body on the ground and said, "Full-Life". Nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing. He kept trying, and on the fourth or fifth time, Litta noticed Vincent's body start to glow. He stood up.

"Thank you Squall." Squall only nodded.

"Can you walk?" Vincent started walking to answer his question. "Good. We need to keep moving and stay clear of Sephiroth." Vincent turned around.

"What about Sephiroth?" Squall told him. Then Vincent looked at Litta. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling ok, I guess." She didn't really want to say she felt about ready to collapse. If Vincent knew she was lying he didn't say anything. "Thank you for stopping Tseng."

"Your welcome. I'm glad I could."

"Litta," Squall looked at her. "Can you walk yet, or do you still need help?"

"I think I might be able to walk." She started walking towards them, but couldn't get past the third step. Squall came over and picked her up again. He led them away from Shin-Ra, but before long Vincent asked Squall an important question.

"Where are we going?" Squall didn't answer right away. He didn't know.

"Wherever we can get away from Sephiroth," he said at last.

"That won't be an easy place to find." Before they could talk anymore, Sephiroth flew above them and landed in front of them.

"Hand over my daughter, and I might let you live." He gave them no room to move.

"Shouldn't you ask her if that's what she wants?" Vincent asked him.

"I don't need to ask my daughter what's best for her. Now hand her over before I take her from you." Neither moved. Sephiroth put up his hand and levitated Litta in the air. He slowly brought her over to his side, and he caught her in his arms.

"Give her back Sephiroth," Squall told him.

"Why should I? She's my daughter."

"You don't deserve to have her for a daughter."

"And why not?" Squall didn't answer. "Well then, if you'll excuse me. I'll be taking my daughter with me, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't interfere." He lifted himself along with Litta up into the air and flew off.

"Great!" Squall attacked the tree closest to him. "Now what are we going to do? He's got Litta and the Turks are after us."

"Calm down Squall. Getting angry won't bring Litta back to us."

"Well what will?" Vincent thought for a moment.

"I don't know. I don't know if we can beat him, and I don't know what he plans to do with Litta. All I do know is that we ought to follow the direction he went, maybe catch up to him, and stay ahead of the Turks. Perhaps we can come up with more of a plan as we go." Squall shrugged. All he could think about was what he would do to Sephiroth if he hurt Litta.

"So which way did he go?" Vincent walked and Squall followed. They didn't talk, neither really wanting to be disturbed by the other. They walked for hours before stopping to take a rest.


	9. Training

**Chapter 9**

Litta said nothing as Sephiroth carried her in the air. She was a little afraid of falling, but she said nothing. They flew for a while, and eventually Sephiroth put them on the ground again in a strange city. Litta let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Afraid of flying?" _He noticed._

"Just a little."

"You'll soon get used to it. Do you know where we are?" She shook her head. "We are in Hatari. It's a city that I created so no one would bother us." She wasn't sure she liked that idea. "No one can get here by the railroads, and no one uses boats anymore, or flying machines for that matter." She liked it even less now.

"So what are we doing here?"

"We are going to perfect your current skills and teach you some new ones." He walked towards a building, so Litta followed.

When she walked in, she stopped dead. Inside the room were weapons of every sort. There were gun blades like Squall's, shurikens, rifles, pistols, brass knuckles, a bigger blade closely resembling the one she remembered Cloud using, a replica of Sephiroth's masamune, and plenty of others.

"What is this place?" Sephiroth smiled.

"This is just what it appears to be. It has every weapon ever used in history that I could find. We are going to work on your battle skills first. You will finish learning to use guns, and then I will teach you how to wield a blade."

"I don't want to learn to use a sword," Litta said.

"You don't have much of a choice. Come." He motioned for her to follow him to another building. This one was filled with all sorts of materia, and places where she could draw magic. "You will also learn to use materia and magic."

"Wouldn't one work?"

"If you learn to use both, you will always have a backup." She followed him to many other buildings, each filled with different tools to be used for her training. Finally, they came to a good sized house.

"Is this where you live?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Why do I even have to learn how to fight?"

"It is for your own protection Litta," he said softly. "I don't want you to be in a battle and unable to defend yourself."

"Then I just won't ever get into a battle." He laughed. She didn't like the way it made her feel. It seemed cold and heartless.

"You won't be able to avoid them. Now, we will start your training tomorrow. You can rest until then."

"Even if I do learn to use all of them, I'm not going to carry them all around. What good will they do me then?" He turned back around.

"You will learn them all despite the chance you may never use it. Wouldn't you like to know how to use all these weapons when your friend Squall abandons you?"

"He'll never abandon me." Sephiroth raised his eyebrows in question, but said nothing. He went into another room and shut the door. She walked around the house, and then outside.

She went into some of the buildings again, and ended up back in the one with weapons. _Why do I have to learn to use all of these? Shouldn't I become experienced with just one and leave it at that? _She walked around and picked up the various weapons. She picked up a gun blade and started playing around with it. She eventually put it back and headed back to the house. She found a room to sleep in for the night. Before she fell asleep, she wondered how Squall and Vincent were doing.

Squall woke up first. He shuddered when he remembered the dream. Litta had been fighting him and killed Vincent already. She was angry at him and Sephiroth was enjoying watching her destroy him. He hadn't slept well after that.

He guessed it to be early in the morning; the sun was barely above the horizon. He walked around a little to stretch his legs. Vincent wasn't long in waking up.

"Sleep well?" he asked Vincent.

"Not really, you?" Squall shook his head.

"Ready to get going?" Squall asked. Vincent nodded and stood up. They kept going in the direction they had started yesterday, and thought about where Sephiroth would have taken Litta. They reached the beach and walked along until they knew they had to have missed something.

"Where could he have gone?" Squall asked. "The only town close to Shin-Ra is Esthar, but that's even father, and in the wrong direction. I don't understand how he could have disappeared."

"He must have gone somewhere that no one knows about. He has powers even Cloud was never able to understand. We must keep looking. Maybe he led us this way, only to turn in another direction while we slept." Vincent headed in the direction of Esthar, and Squall followed.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

_The blade went straight through Vincent's side. She pulled it out and watched him fall. She saw his eyes flicker, and watched the light life leave him. She charged at Squall. The battle was unending. All the while Sephiroth watched from the side, obviously pleased._

"_I'm going to kill you Squall," she told him._

"_You won't kill me, and I won't let Vincent die," he told her._

"_Vincent is already dead," she pointed out. "There's nothing you can do to save him, again."_

"_Squall, why don't you just give up," Sephiroth interrupted._

"_I'm not going to let you ruin her life and destroy the world."_

"_I'm not ruining her life. This was her decision. So to make it easier on her," Sephiroth took one swing at Squall, and ran him through. She looked on in horror as she watched Squall fall. "Come," Sephiroth told her. She looked back once._

"_Don't go," Squall whispered. She ran back, but he was dead before she reached him._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Litta woke with a start. She was sweating, and she was afraid. Sephiroth came into her room.

"Good, you're already awake. Meet me downstairs in ten minutes." He left her room. _Hopefully it was just a dream. But what if...No,_ she refused to finish that thought. She got ready and went downstairs. Sephiroth led her to the weapons building.

"I want you to pick out a weapon," he told her.

"Which one?" She had no idea what he had planed.

"The one you can handle the best." She picked out the gun that most resembled hers. "Now follow me."

"Where are you taking me?"

"You will see." She followed him and he led her to something like a practice field, only it was a forest designed for target practice. "We are going to perfect your skills with a gun first then, and after we will move gradually to the weapons you have never seen before."

"Why do you insist on training me with every weapon? That will take such a long amount of time, it could take forever."

"Be that as it may, you will learn the most important weapons and work your way down. You will train with me from dawn until I see fit to let you rest."

"So you won't even let me get a decent amount of sleep?" It was an accusation more than a question.

"I will decide how much sleep you need. If you complain, you will get less. I suggest that if you value your sleep, you will let me train you however I want. Otherwise, you will find your training harder and more intense. Is that clear?" She nodded her head.

"So how long do you plan on keeping me here?" Her voice was barely audible.

"Until I decide you're ready."

"Ready for what?"

"That matters little. For now, show me how you shoot." She fired a few shots before her started criticizing her. She took the first few and then realized he was going to correct every tiny thing she did wrong.

"Is there anything I did right?" she interrupted.

"A few things, yes. But right now mostly everything was wrong." He continued to show her how to improve and they worked all day. He finally let her go to bed at half past ten. She fell asleep immediately.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

_She walked into the room, not knowing what she would find in there. She sat down and finally looked. Her mother sat staring at her, the pain present in her eyes. She looked away, unable to stand it for long._

"_Why did you make her come?" Sephiroth asked her mother._

"_I wanted to see my daughter one last time."_

"_Can't you see she can't handle this?"_

"_She's my daughter, but I want her to know the truth."_

"_You shouldn't put her through this."_

"_Stop it!" Litta screamed. She couldn't stand to hear them argue anymore. "I can handle seeing my mother. It's you who can't seem to stand it," she told Sephiroth. "What do you have against her?"_

"_You don't know what you're saying. Come, I'll take you home." He dragged her away without another word or look at her mother. She struggled to get out of his grasp, but he held her tight._

"_Let me go!" He released her. When she ran back in the room, she looked at her mother one last time and heard the monitor stop. "No!" She tried shaking her mom, but she was gone. She heard her father come in, but the blackness was already too strong to hold it off much longer._

"_Litta!" He yelled her name, but she didn't hear it._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

She was woken up by Sephiroth at three in the morning. She looked at the clock and then over at him.

"What?" she asked.

"You were yelling in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?" He seemed genuinely concerned.

"I was dreaming about...my mother." She didn't look up, otherwise she would have seen the look of pain cross his face. "What happened to her?" She looked, but saw no emotion on Sephiroth's face.

"That's not important, like I've said before. Since you're already up, we'll go ahead and start training today." She followed him out and they practiced all day.

This was the normal schedule they followed for the next couple of weeks. Litta began to wonder if she would ever leave, or be able to get away from Sephiroth. So she just waited for a miracle to happen.

Squall followed Vincent until they reached Esthar. They walked around and talked to different people, but no one seemed to have seen anyone resembling Sephiroth or Litta.

"I don't get it, where are they?"

"I'm not sure," Vincent told Squall. "But worrying won't help us find them any sooner." Squall sighed.

"So where to next? I'm sure they didn't go farther than this town. They didn't even head in this direction."

"Let's just hit every town and talk to our friends. Surely we'll come across a clue sooner or later." They headed off to Deling City the next morning.

They kept up a leisurely pace, but didn't stop for rests. After Deling City, they headed to Nibelheim and visited all the other cities. They spent more time at each city, and once they had searched through Midgar they headed back towards Shin-Ra.

"It's been a couple of weeks now Vincent, where are they?"

"Sephiroth must have taken her to someplace we can't get to. That's the only thing that makes sense at this point."

"Well what can we do then?"

"Just wait. Don't look at me like that. We can't swim the whole ocean. There aren't any flying machines left, only trains, and those can't search the whole ocean. What else can we do but wait?" Squall nodded.

"I guess you're right." They rested in the forest between Shin-Ra and the ocean. They waited for another two days before they saw what they were looking for.

During one of her practice sessions, she was practicing deflecting attacks. Sephiroth was the one attacking, so she hadn't deflected one yet.

"You aren't concentrating enough," he told her. At that point, he charged and sliced her arm. She dropped her sword. "Get up. Keep fighting."

"You just cut my arm. Can't I heal it?"

"Learning to fight while you are injured is important. You say Squall is your friend. If you were injured he wouldn't bother to heal you."

"That's not true. He would heal me," Litta yelled.

"Are you sure?" He said no more and they continued fighting. Eventually, he let her go to bed, but woke her up early again the next morning.

"Wake up Litta," Sephiroth told her. She woke up quickly, used to the early morning practices.

"What are we doing today?"

"We're leaving." She stared at him for a minute before the words fully sank in.

"Why?"

"There is no time for questions, just get up and follow me. You have done all the training you need and are more than capable of using all the magic I have given you. You have even gained control over your two limit breaks. You are ready." She followed him out and ran to keep up.

"What am I ready for?"

"You will see, but come." He gave her a cup of hot liquid. Once she had emptied the cup, he lifted them in the air and they began flying back towards Shin-Ra. She had grown accustomed to flying and it no longer bothered her. They flew over a forest and landed in an opening. "Wait, it will not be long now." She looked at him, but he was staring straight ahead, as if waiting for something.


	10. New Information

**Chapter 10**

Squall woke Vincent and pointed up. Sephiroth and Litta were flying just above them. They made sure they were quiet, but slowly followed them. They checked to make sure they had everything and then went to meet Sephiroth, again.

When they walked into the clearing, Sephiroth was looking straight at them. He seemed to have been waiting for them.

"Right on time," he said.

"Where have you been?" accused Squall.

"I've just been training up my daughter, that's all. I'm sure you don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Squall told him. "Where have you been?" repeated Squall.

"We've been at an island, training. Now that's she's ready, I wanted to test out her skills." Everyone looked at him, no one quite sure what he meant, not even Litta.

"What do you mean test out my skills?" Litta asked.

"Just that." He looked at Squall and Vincent. "I want you to kill them." She hadn't expected that.

"I won't kill my friends," she refused.

"You have no choice."

"Of course I have a choice. It's my life, I-" but before she could go on, she felt dizzy. She couldn't think straight. All of a sudden it felt like she was loosing control of her mind. "What's going on?" she muttered. No one heard her. She hadn't even said the words aloud, but she didn't know that.

"The potion was slow working, I'll admit," Sephiroth said, "but it seems to be doing its job." Squall and Vincent had no idea what he was talking about, but they weren't sure they wanted to find out.

Suddenly, Litta stood up straight, and looked around. She seemed fine, only something was different. Squall couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Well, what have I missed?" she asked. It was her voice, only it wasn't. _Something's wrong,_ Squall thought.

"I was just saying that this is your first battle to test your skills."

"Really?" she asked. It wasn't so much a question, but a statement of interest. "So I get to battle these two for my first test?"

"That's right. I'll let you work and I'll come back later." Sephiroth walked off into the forest, leaving Litta with Squall and Vincent.

"Litta, are you all right?" Squall asked.

"I'm fine, and quite ready to kill you in battle." _What am I saying?_ Litta thought. _Why would I say that to Squall? Why can't I control myself anymore?_

"Litta, what's wrong? Don't you recognize us?" Vincent asked.

"You're only my opponents, nothing more." _Only opponents, what am I saying?_ Litta pulled out a sword and charged at Squall. She also pulled out a gun at the same time and fired off a few shots at Vincent.

"You don't want to do this," Squall told her.

"No, I really think I do." She came at him hard, and showed no signs of letting up. So Squall was forced to fight back, and Vincent kept dodging the bullets she fired his way. One hit him in the arm, which slowed him down. He quickly healed himself, and kept moving.

"What are you doing?" Squall shouted at her_. I'd like to know that myself,_ she thought. _There has to be something I can do to gain control over myself again._ As Squall was fighting her, she suddenly pulled back and bent over as if in pain.

"I...can't...control...myself," she mumbled. "Help...me." Squall walked over, but she stood up straight and came at him again. "Don't leave yourself open for an attack, or you'll get yourself killed." _How can I break through to the real Litta?_

"I'm afraid you won't have the honor of killing me."

"No?" she asked in a mocking voice. She came at him harder, but then pulled back again and whispered, "Help me."

"How?" Squall asked. He didn't know what he could do. He used dispel on her, but it didn't seem to work. She stood there, seeming to argue with herself. _It's starting to look like my dream, but I can't let that happen. I won't kill Vincent or Squall. I can't._ She lost control again, but regained it back.

"Squall, please do something."

"What can I do?"

"I don't know." Squall couldn't think of anything that might free her from Sephiroth's spell. "Squall, please." He tried dispel again, but still nothing happened. _Maybe it will just wear off,_ he thought.

"Just hold on. It might wear off."

"I can't control myself much longer." He noticed the change in her again, and she charged at him. "Not the best at defending yourself are you." It was a challenge, and he met it. He charged at her, but she wasn't ready for it. She stumbled back and his blade went through her shoulder.

"Litta, are you ok?" She healed herself and was up in answer to his question.

"I know how to use magic, or did you forget about that?" Before she could charge, she gained control of herself again, only at this point Sephiroth came back.

"Litta I had expected you to have killed them by now."

"I won't kill my friends."

"The magic seems to be wearing off. Maybe I should give you another dose."

"Or not," Squall added.

"This does not concern you Squall."

"Oh, but I think it does."

"Really? And why is that?" Sephiroth waited for his reply.

"Litta is my friend and I won't let you hurt her anymore." Suddenly he noticed Litta was doing something. She had pulled out her two guns and had loaded them till they were both full.

"Move Squall," she told him. He moved, and she fired all her shots at Sephiroth. Sephiroth hadn't been watching her until she spoke, so a few of the first shots hit him, but he moved and she couldn't keep up with him. When she was out of ammo, Sephiroth left and she fell to the ground unconscious.

"Squall, pick her up and follow me. Let's not be around when Sephiroth comes back, which I'm sure he will." Squall nodded and gently picked up Litta. He grabbed her guns and followed Vincent. They headed towards Esthar.

They checked into a hotel when they reached the city. Squall put Litta on a bed and closed the door.

"Is she still unconscious?" Vincent asked when Squall walked in.

"Yes." He lay down on his own bed and let his mind wander. _Was it really magic that caused her to act like that? Could she have really hurt us if she hadn't been able to control herself? What did she do to Sephiroth when she fired all those shots? Was that her limit break?_

"...Hopefully she'll be able to talk to us in the morning about it," Vincent was saying. "What do you think Squall? Squall?"

"What? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"I noticed. I was wondering if you thought Litta would be able to tell us what happened to her while she was with Sephiroth. Do you think she'll remember?"

"Probably." He went back to his thoughts and Vincent left him alone. He too had his own thoughts he was dealing with.

They eventually fell asleep, but Squall was woken up by something in the middle of the night. _What woke me up? It sounded like someone crying. Wait, there it is again._ It was coming from Litta's room. He opened the door and saw Litta sitting up on her bed.

"Who's there?" she asked. He could hear the huskiness in her voice.

"It's Squall. Are you ok?" She made no response but looked down at her bed. "Can I come in?" Still no response. He walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?"

"It was the same dream, only it went further this time. It was all his fault. He killed her!"

"Who killed who?"

"My father! Sephiroth killed-" she started crying again.

"Calm down. It was only a dream."

"No," she said when she had stopped crying. "It wasn't. My dreams are about my past," she paused, "or my future. My dream was about my mother in a hospital bed. She was dying. I couldn't stand it. My father had poisoned her. I heard her telling him how she knew when I left the room. How could my father kill my mother?" She choked on the word mother. She was trying not to cry. _I've never heard her call Sephiroth her father before, _Squall thought.

"What other dreams have you had about your past?" She had caught his interest. She looked up, as though unsure if she wanted to answer. She sighed, and told him about her other dreams. She left out the one that showed her killing Vincent.

"That's how I know Sephiroth killed my mother."

"You said you had dreams about your future too. What was that about?" She hesitated, not wanting to tell him what she had seen. "Litta?"

"Well, it showed me not acting like myself the way I was today. I had already killed Vincent and was trying to kill you. Then Sephiroth came, he killed you, and," she paused.

"Go on."

"He told me to leave so I wouldn't get to you when you told me not to leave. Then you died before I could reach you. It was awful." She started to cry again, only silently this time.

Squall didn't know what to say. Her dream had started to come true today, like she had said, only for some reason it changed. _Why,_ he asked himself. _Maybe they just show what might happen in the future. That's it. They don't actually come true._ He convinced himself of that. "What did you do when you were with Sephiroth?"

"He trained me with every weapon he had along with magic and materia. Why?"

"I just wondered what you did for three weeks." For the next few minutes neither spoke. Finally Litta broke the silence.

"Why did you come in here?"

"I woke up when I heard you crying. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh." Another couple of minutes of silence. "You can go back to bed now. I'll be all right."

"Are you sure? You seemed pretty upset when I came in."

"Yes, I'll be fine. Goodnight."

"Night." Squall closed the door and went back to bed. It was another hour or so before he fell back asleep. Litta couldn't sleep the rest of the night, but finally fell into a restless sleep just before dawn.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

"_Is that all you got?" asked one of the two men._

"_You wish," said the other._

_They fought hard, not giving the other any slack. Finally one got a hit in, and gave the other a huge gash across the front of his face. The young man fell down for a second, but got up and charged at the other man. He gave the other man a huge gash across his face as well._

"_Just thought I'd return the favor Seifer," said the one. Seifer motioned for the other to come at him again, daring him to try to hurt him. The other needed no prodding. He charged and the battle continued._

"_You're getting tired Squall," Seifer taunted._

"_Not as much as you are." The two continued fighting. The clouds in the sky had grown dark and the rain let loose. Lightning flashed. The dirt on the mountain top where they were fighting started to disintegrate. They started to fall but kept fighting._

_Suddenly Seifer jumped up and caught Squall off guard. He swung his sword..._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Litta woke up. Her room was bright with sunlight, and she guessed it to be well into the morning. _What a strange dream. It appeared to be Squall fighting someone, but how could I have a dream about Squall's past?_ She wondered about it, then decided to get up and see what Vincent and Squall were doing.

She finished getting dressed and knocked on Squall and Vincent's door. At first there was no answer, so she knocked again. She heard someone stirring inside, and Squall answered the door.

"Well this is a change for me to be the one waking you up," Litta teased.

"I didn't get the best sleep last night." He looked straight at her almost in an accusing look. She blushed and looked away.

"I'm sorry, that's my fault. You shouldn't have come in."

"I'm glad I could help you." She looked back at him. She thought for a minute, as if preparing to ask a question. Squall waited for her to speak.

"Is Vincent awake?"

"No, he's still sleeping. Why?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions, but I don't want to wake him up." Squall closed the door behind him.

"Then we'll go to your room, if that's okay with you." She nodded and followed him in. She closed the door behind her. She didn't want anyone walking by to overhear their conversation. "So what did you want to ask me?" He saw her stop to think for a minute.

"I had another dream last night, only this one was different." She stopped to look at him, trying to see if he wanted her to go on. When he nodded, she sat down on the bed next to him and went on. "Usually my dreams are about me, either my past or my future."

"Yes, you've told me that."

"But this dream," she paused. "Well, it was about you."

"Me?"

"I don't understand it, but it was about you. I don't know whether it was your past or future, but I didn't understand it. I couldn't figure out how I could have a dream about you. I don't really know that much about your past."

"What was the dream about?" He looked at her, but she was looking at the faded scar on his face. _She's only noticed my scar from Seifer now?_ he thought.

"Where did you get that scar?" she asked as if she hadn't heard his question.

"First tell me what your dream was about."

"Oh, right. It was you fighting someone on a mountain top. I think his name was, hold on, let me think...Seifer! That's it. You gave each other scars, just like the one on your face. That's why I wanted to know where you got that scar from." She noticed he didn't seem to be listening anymore. "Are you listening to me?" No response. "Squall? Are you okay?"

"The dream you had is about my past. Seifer was my rival as long as I can remember. We never got along, and when we fought, well, you can see what happened."

"But how could I have a dream about your past?"

"I was wondering the same thing." He got up and walked around the room. "Wait here, I'm going to go talk to Vincent." He left the room and closed the door. _Strange,_ she thought. _What does he need to talk to Vincent about? Oh well, I'll find out later I guess._ She sat there until Squall came back.

"Vincent, when did you get up?"

"Just after you left to talk to Litta. What did you talk about?"

"She had a dream about my past." Vincent only raised his eyebrows.

"What was it about?" he asked Squall.

"You remember when I told you about my so called 'training' battle with Seifer, right?"

"Yes."

"Well she had a dream about that. I thought I might take her to see Zell and find out if he knows anything about Seifer. I wasn't sure if you'd want to come with us or do something else." Vincent sat for a moment to think.

"Go ahead and take Litta to see about Seifer. I'm going to find out what I can about Sephiroth. When I'm done, I'll look for you at Balamb with Zell. If you're not there I'll talk to him to see where I can find you."

"Okay. We're probably going to leave right away." Vincent nodded his farewell. Squall went back to Litta's room, but there was no one in there! _Great, now where did she go?_

"Did you miss me?" Squall turned to find her smiling in the doorway.

"Where did you go?"

"I just wanted to see what you would do if I wasn't in here, but you didn't do anything."

"Sorry to disappoint you," he mumbled. "We're leaving for Balamb."

"Now?"

"Yes. Is that all right with you?"

"I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. When are we leaving?"

"As soon as you're ready." She looked around her room.

"I'm ready." She smiled. _She obviously thinks this is funny._

"We're going to see Zell about Seifer's whereabouts." Her smile faded.

"Do you want to see Seifer again? I thought he was your rival."

"He is, but, I've been wondering what happened to him when our world collided with this one." He walked out of the room and Litta followed.

"So what will you say to Seifer when you see him again?" Litta asked after a while of walking in silence. _I can't stand this silence anymore, but I hope that wasn't the wrong question to break it with._

"I'm not sure. He'll have heard of Rinoa's death by now."

"Rinoa?"

"We tried to stay at her house, remember? Back at Deling City?" She thought for a second.

"Oh yes. Now I remember. Did he like her?"

"I think so. But Seifer didn't voice his feelings a lot, unless they put someone else down by making fun of them." _Sounds kind of like you Squall, except you don't put people down. You never say how you feel, just what is best for whoever is with you._

They walked another hour or so in silence, but Litta dared not try to break it again. It was starting to get to her by the time they reached Wutai, where they would rest for the night.

"Are we going to stay with Yuffie?"

"I don't want to bother her. We're just going to stay at a hotel."

"Oh." Litta was a little disappointed, but tried to hide it.

"You aren't very good at hiding your disappointment." She looked up and saw Squall smiling at her.

"Not as good as you, you mean." She smiled back now.

"But of course. I am the best."

"You'd like to think so."

"You know of someone better?"

"I know a great many people. Don't you think I'd know someone who could beat your unwillingness to show any feelings? But then, it must be easy for you, since you don't have any."

"I have feelings, but I try to spare you from my wrath. I must say that I find it hard not to rip your head off sometimes."

"I'm sure you do." They had reached the hotel at this point, and Squall checked them into their rooms. "Goodnight Squall."

"Night." They went to sleep, and Litta did not wake until morning. She was thankful she had not had any more disturbing dreams. Squall was obviously still asleep, so she decided not to wake him. Squall woke up later that morning. They checked out of the hotel and headed towards Balamb again. They walked for a couple of hours, and Litta started feeling a little hungry.

"Squall, are we going to eat anytime soon?"

"Are you hungry?"

"A little." Squall didn't answer for a minute. She was afraid she'd upset him when he replied.

"There's nothing around here, and we're about half way to Balamb." He paused.

"We can wait until we reach Balamb. It doesn't matter really." Squall nodded and they continued on. _I wonder what he's thinking. He never says anything unless he's asked. Does he hate people or something? Maybe-_

"Litta, don't make any noise." She looked in the direction Squall was staring and stopped breathing. Sephiroth was directly ahead of them, seemingly looking for something. _He's looking for me,_ she thought. Squall slowly started edging them into the trees so they couldn't be seen.

They crouched there for a while, not moving, not talking. Sephiroth eventually moved off, and Squall went out to make sure he was gone. He came back, but Litta could read nothing from his face.

"It's safe, he's gone. I think we should keep moving though, in case he comes back." Litta nodded. All she knew was that she didn't want to be around Sephiroth again. They walked quickly, silently, and arrived at Balamb just after dark.

"Where are we going to stay?" Litta wondered if they would stay with Zell or in another hotel.

"I want to talk to Zell, but I'm afraid to leave you by yourself." Litta couldn't tell if he was joking or serious.

"I can handle myself," she told him.

"I don't know where Sephiroth is, which is my only concern." _So he was being serious._

"I don't think he's here in Balamb. If he already came through he probably won't come back. At least not for a while." _Like I needed to tell myself that. Not really what I needed to hear._

"You're probably right," Squall said. "I'll leave you here and go talk to Zell. Please stay around here so I can find you later." She nodded and he ran off.

She wandered around a little, making sure to stay in the general area where Squall had told her to stay. There were people walking around, and stores selling different items. She looked at a few things, but found nothing that really interested her.

As she made her way back, she spotted someone running towards her. She couldn't quite make out who it was until it was too late. A bag was thrust over her head, and a strong smell engulfed her senses. It was too strong, and she fell unconscious before she realized she was being carried away from the city.


	11. A New Resolve

**Chapter 11**

Squall knocked on the door, which was opened immediately by Zell.

"Squall! What are you doing here?" He led Squall inside and sat down on a couch opposite him.

"I wanted to ask you if you have heard anything about Seifer since out battle with Ultimacia." Zell sighed. _That can't mean anything good._

"I've heard some things, but right now as far as I know they're just rumors."

"What have you heard?"

"He had gone back to Balamb Garden and taken up Headmaster Cid's job. He was running things pretty smoothly until..." Zell paused.

"Until what?"

"He heard that you had been to see Rinoa and that she had died right after that. He began thinking you had something to do with it because she rejected you when you asked her out again after you dumped her. He realized how stupid that was, but went to see for himself what had happened to Rinoa. Her house was burned to the ground, and he searched all through the rubble. He found her body, and General Caraway's. Besides being burned though, the bodies also had bullet holes in them. The shots were very precise, and the bullets he found around the house were some used by Turks.

"He went to Rufus Shinra and accused him of having his men, or even himself for that matter, murder Rinoa and her father. Rufus said that was ridiculous. He asked Seifer for proof of his involvement, which of course Seifer had none. He left in a hurry and went to look for you. He figured you would know something more about what happened. The last I heard of him, he was headed towards Deling City."

"Has he been here yet?"

"No, but it probably won't be long. Why did you ask?"

"You remember Litta right?" Zell nodded. "She had a dream about my last so-called 'practice' battle with Seifer. I wanted to see if I could talk to Seifer, not that I really expect him to know anything that might answer my questions."

"How could she have a dream about your past?"

"That's the question I need answered. Actually, I wanted to know if it would be possible for Litta and me to stay with you for the night."

"That'd be fine. Just for one night though?"

"I think we'll head out for Deling City in the morning."

"Where is Litta?"

"I left her in the main square by the south-east entrance. I told her to wait there until I got back."

"Well let's go get her then." They walked back towards the entrance, but Squall couldn't see Litta anywhere. "I know I left her right here. Where is she?"

"Maybe she wandered off to look at some of the stores."

"Maybe." _She doesn't seem the type to bother looking in stores,_ Squall thought. _Maybe something happened while I was gone._ "Why don't we ask some people if they saw her." Zell nodded and started asking everyone questions. Squall went another direction and did the same.

Not long after he started asking questions, Squall found someone who had seen her. He grabbed Zell and asked the man to repeat what he had said.

"I saw a girl that matches that description in my shop, oh say twenty minutes ago. She walked out and kept looking around, like she was waiting for someone. Then a man came up, threw a bag over her head, and ran out the entrance. I thought it was a little odd but never bothered reporting it."

"What did the man look like?" Squall asked.

"He was wearing a suit, had long black hair, and he was kind of tall. That's all I noticed." Squall thanked the man and walked out of the store, Zell following.

"It was a Turk, I know that. It was probably Tseng."

"Maybe, but who knows how much of a head start he has on us."

"I guess we won't be staying at your house tonight."

"That's ok, I was looking for something to do anyways. What better way to pass time than chasing down a Turk." They headed out of the city and saw a few tracks on the ground. They followed them southwest, and they realized in the direction of Shin-Ra Headquarters.

"What would Shin-Ra still want with Litta?" Zell asked.

_He might be getting her for Sephiroth, like before. Or maybe he thinks she has the book and is going to make her read it, only she doesn't have it. I still have it from a while back. What happens when he finds that out? But he still probably doesn't even know what it would mean if she read that book._

"Squall?" Squall looked at Zell, aware that he still hadn't answered the question.

"I don't know for sure. All I know is that whatever it is, it can't be good. We need to catch up to Tseng." Zell said nothing, and they quickened their pace.

She opened her eyes, but saw nothing. She wondered if she had truly even opened her eyes. She came to realize that she was being carried, but suddenly she was put on the ground. The bag was taken off her head and she looked up at Tseng.

"Thought you might be awake at this point," he sneered.

"What do you want with me?"

"The same thing we did last time you were with us." She remembered what Tseng had done to her last time.

"And what is that?"

"You'll find out. Now walk," he ordered her. She started to stand, but it was too slow for Tseng. He picked her up by her hair and threw her into a tree. "Get up I said." She got up quicker this time and started walking. He made her walk in front, and he held a gun to her back. "If you try to run, I'll shoot you. I might not be able to kill you, but I can do whatever I deem necessary to keep you in control. Now keep walking."

Litta walked in whatever direction she was told to. She wondered how long they had been walking, when she realized Squall was probably looking for her. _How will he find me? He has no idea where I am, or even that I've been kidnapped! Maybe I can leave something for him to find and follow, but what?_

She thought for a minute, but knew that if she tried to leave anything behind, Tseng would just pick it up. She decided to just hope that Squall would find her. She had no idea how close he was to finding her.

Squall and Zell had been following what tracks they could find, or just heading in the general direction of Shin-Ra. They were still a few miles away when they came up to a clearing and saw Tseng with Litta on the other side.

"Well at least we know where they are," Zell pointed out. "I hate to do this to you, but I'm going to have to leave you. I forgot that I was going to see Selphie with Irvine. They'll both be disappointed if I'm not there."

"That's fine Zell. I can handle this." Zell turned around and left. _I knew he had been hiding something for the last half of our trip. At least now I know what it was._ He turned back to Tseng and Litta, but saw that they had passed into the forest. He hurried around the clearing and ended up just in front of them.

Litta stumbled on some raised tree roots, and wasn't able to hold her balance.

"Get up!" She stumbled again, and then felt Tseng grab her hair and pick her up. She continued walking, aware that she couldn't fall again or Tseng would have no patience left.

Squall saw what Tseng did when Litta fell, but waited a few more minutes before revealing himself. "Hope you're getting paid for baby-sitting, Tseng," Squall called out.

"Come out where I can see you Squall, or I'll shoot her." He stopped Litta from walking and put the gun to her shoulder. _He won't kill me, just cause me pain._

"You can't kill her, even I know that. Just let her go and you can shoot me." Tseng pushed Litta ahead, but kept her in his grip.

"I can't kill her, you're right about that. But I can cause her pain." He loaded his gun. _So I've been doing everything he told me to and his gun wasn't even loaded. I feel like such a fool._ He pushed Litta a little farther ahead, just out of his reach.

A few branches rustled to her left and Tseng fired. Nothing happened. Branches to the right rustled, and Tseng fired again. Still, no sound of pain was heard. Then from behind Tseng Squall swung his blade, but Tseng had heard him coming. He stepped to the side and Squall couldn't stop in time. He hit Litta instead.

"Nice job Squall," Tseng taunted. "I can honestly tell Rufus that it wasn't me who injured her. It was you, the one who was trying to protect her.

Squall turned to face Tseng, refusing, in his mind, to look at Litta. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand the sight. What he didn't know was that Litta had used her magic and healed herself up, but Tseng hadn't looked either.

"So what now? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to shoot me?" Squall knew Tseng wouldn't be able to resist, and he was right. Tseng fired his gun, but it suddenly flew out of his hand. Squall was as surprised as Tseng, and they both turned to look at Litta. She was angry, that was obvious. She had her hand in the air, and she had obviously cast some sort of spell to control the gun.

"I'm sick of this," she blurted out. Her voice was cold as ice, but her eyes were on fire. "All you ever do is fight. You don't care who you hurt, and who you kill, so long as you get your job done. Well I'm through watching from the side lines. I won't let you hurt my friends any more, and I won't let you control me any more either." She closed her fist and the gun folded into itself, creating a ball. It exploded.

"You can't stop me Litta," Tseng said after her outburst. "I can do whatever I want, no matter what you do."

"Want to bet?" Squall had stepped off to the side, knowing he didn't want to be caught in the middle when Litta went after Tseng. Litta pulled out a gun and fired shots straight at Tseng. He dodged them all, but barely.

"Nicely done, but as you can see, I am unharmed. You are just a weak girl who is powerless."

That was the last straw. She pulled out a blade that Squall didn't even know she had, and ran towards Tseng. He pulled out another gun and fired some shots at her. She bounced them back at Tseng with her blade and kept towards him. He began moving to the side, but Litta still headed towards him.

Suddenly, Tseng ran towards Squall and grabbed his sword. He then turned and blocked Litta just in time. They fought for a few minutes, but it was obvious that Tseng was not as experienced with a blade. He was getting tired, and Litta could tell.

"You don't know how to use a blade very well," she commented.

"And you do?" he shot back.

"I'm not the one who is losing." After that she gave one final push and knocked Tseng to the ground. She stood over him quite confident, while he lay on the ground gasping for air. "This is a sight worth remembering." As she was about to put her blade through his heart, Squall stopped her.

"Let him live." He picked up his blade.

"Why?"

"It's not your place to kill him, not right now."

"Why should I let him live, when he never would have given it a second thought if he had killed either of us?"

"Because that's the way he is. Do you want to be the same?" Litta slowly changed, Squall noticed, back to her normal self. The harshness of her voice was gone, and the fire in her eyes had died.

"You're right. But I'm not healing him."

"I wasn't going to ask you to."

"And I won't let you heal him either."

"I wasn't going to. I do think we should leave though." Litta nodded in agreement.

_Where to?_ Squall thought as they left Tseng. _I still need to figure out why she had a dream about my past. But Seifer isn't going to have any answers I don't already have. So where to indeed?_ He thought some more. He said nothing, but just started walking.

"Squall, are you ok?" He looked at her, but still said nothing. "Are you upset about something?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how you had a dream about my past, that's all. And I think the only one who really knew the answers to these questions was Cloud."

Litta looked away at the mention of Cloud. She hadn't thought of him in a while. But he was to one who seemed to know a lot about her. He knew enough to send her to Squall and away from Shin-Ra.

_Why did he have to die?_ she thought. _Why couldn't just a Turk die? Why did Reno have to shoot Cloud? It isn't fair, I won't take it anymore. I'm not going to sit back while Squall fights from now on. I'm going to fight right along side him. I won't let him die alone._

Squall had been watching her. Her face had seemed sad, almost regretful, but then it had slowly changed to anger. He sensed a resolve he wasn't going to be happy with.

"So do you know where we're going?" she asked.

"I think we'll head to," he paused for a moment. He couldn't head back to Balamb because Zell was with Irvine and Selphie. He didn't want to have Litta get between Irvine and Selphie. "We'll head to Nibelheim. Hopefully we'll find Vincent there."

"What happened to staying with Zell?" _I was hoping she wouldn't ask. So what do I tell her?_

"He had plans, so we can't stay with him." Litta seemed satisfied with that answer. They continued walking, but stopped at a hotel in Deling City for the night. The next morning they continued on their way towards Nibelheim.


	12. Doubts Arise

**Chapter 12**

When they reached Nibelheim, they headed straight for Vincent's house. He wasn't home. Squall tried to leave Litta there, but she wouldn't be left behind. Once he thought about it, Squall was glad he hadn't left her alone again. Last time he had done that Litta had been carried off by Tseng.

"So where will Vincent be?" Squall didn't know, so he didn't answer her question. "Do you know where to look?" No answer. "Are you just going to ignore me?" Still no answer. "Fine then." She asked no more questions.

They walked into different areas of the town, but after a few hours, they had searched just about everywhere. "Are you going to talk to me now?"

Squall couldn't avoid not talking forever. "It's not that I didn't want to talk to you earlier, I just didn't have anything to say. I couldn't answer your questions so I said nothing."

"Well next time just say that."

"I'll try to remember that."

"So where do you think Vincent is?"

"I'm not sure. He never said where to find him, just where he would look for us."

"Where would he go to find out information?"

"I don't know that either. He doesn't talk much, and when he does he doesn't give a lot away about himself."

"So I've noticed_." But he's not the only one who keeps things to himself. You don't share much either. _"So where do you plan on going from here?"

"I thought we would head to Wutai and see if Yuffie's seen him. We'll decide where to go from there once we've talked to her." Litta nodded, and they headed out of Nibelheim. They walked until they reached the city and then picked up the pace a little. They reached Yuffie's just before dark.

"What are you guys doing here? Come in," she said after opening the door. They stepped inside, and Litta looked around but didn't see Vincent. "So what brings you to my home?"

"We were wondering if you had seen Vincent lately. He hasn't stopped by here recently has he?"

Yuffie thought for a moment, then said, "Nope. Haven't seen him since we split up the last time I saw you guys. Why?" _She obviously isn't that worried, or else she's really good at hiding it, _thought Litta.

"Nothing has happened as far as we know; we're just trying to find Vincent. I thought he might have come to see you."

"Why did you guys split up?"

"Vincent was going to search for information about Sephiroth, and I was going to see an old friend about Litta."

"Did he tell you where he was going? Never mind, he doesn't say much and least of all what he's going to do. Well, are you hungry?" Squall stared at her for a minute, unsure if he'd heard her right.

"We need to find Vincent," he said after he was sure of what he'd heard.

"But you need some food for the journey. Surely you won't deny being even a little hungry?" He couldn't deny it, so they had some supper. He also gave in when Litta begged to be allowed one good night sleep before they started off again. They went to bed, planning on an early start the next morning.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

_He lay on the table, not moving or showing any signs of life. Only the screens on the monitors proved he was still alive. Another man walked into the room, and went to the man on the table._

"_Still unconscious I see. Well you'll be awake in a few moments." He pulled a lever, and one of the bars on the monitor began moving. The man on the table stirred, and slowly opened his eyes._

"_What do you want?" he asked._

"_You know what I want. It's the means of getting what I want that you don't know." He pushed a button and a needle began injecting fluid into the man's arm._

"_I won't tell you anything Rufus. You know me better than that."_

"_You won't tell me anything willingly, but there are ways of forcing you to talk. And one of them is being pumped into your blood right now. So tell me Vincent, where is Litta?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_Come now, you'll tell me soon enough. Where did you send her with Squall? Where did you tell them to hide?"_

"_I didn't tell them anything. I have no idea where they are, nor would I tell you if I did."_

"_Hmmm, maybe this drug isn't as strong as I thought. Perhaps I need to resort to some older methods of persuasion." Rufus left the room, but the door didn't close all the way behind him. He was talking to someone right outside the door. "...any news?" asked Rufus._

"_Nothing...disappeared again...couldn't find them..." said the other voice._

"_Find them...at all costs..."_

"_But we don't know..."_

"_I don't care...just do it..." Rufus came back in. "It seems that your friends know not to leave any clues as to where they are. Or where they're going. I will ask you one more time, where-", but before he could finish his question, another Turk came into the room._

"_Sir, we know where they are."_

"_Good. Take Rude with you, and go after them. You know what to do with them." Another man walked in as the Turk left. Rufus whispered something to the man, who only nodded as Rufus left the room._

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

Litta woke up suddenly, but did not move. She had a strange feeling that something was wrong. As her eyes began to adjust to the dark, she saw someone standing in the corner. _Squall would have just woken me up. But who else could it be? Wait, maybe it's, no. That's not possible. It was just a dream._

She lay there quietly, trying hard to make sure her breathing remained regular. Eventually, another man came into the room and motioned for the man in her room to talk outside. Once he was out and the door was closed, Litta jumped out of bed. She quickly got her guns and loaded them. She quietly climbed out her window and closed it when she was outside.

She crawled along the wall until she came to Yuffie's room. She looked inside the room, but didn't see her anywhere. Her bed was empty and things had been thrown everywhere. She crawled past the window quickly and came to Squall's room. Squall was pacing on the inside, but did not appear to know that the house had visitors. As she tried to open the window, Squall came over and unlocked it for her.

"What are you doing out there?" he asked her.

"Have long have you been awake?" she asked him instead of answering.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you know about the men in the house, or where Yuffie is?" He obviously didn't know, because he took a step back in shock.

"What men? And what were you doing outside on the wall?"

"I woke up from a dream and there was a man in my room. He was called out by another man, so I took that chance to leave. I crawled out my window and came to Yuffie's room. She wasn't in there, and the things in her room had been thrown everywhere. That's when I came to your window. What were you doing up?"

"It's nothing to worry about. What was your dream about?" She hesitated. _Should I tell him? What if it's true? What if Vincent is dead or being tortured? Will he even know what to do?_

"It was a bit of a longer dream, but I'm not sure about it. I saw Vincent talking with Rufus, but Vincent was strapped to a table. The Turks found out where we were. Rufus told something to a man, something that had to do with Vincent, but I couldn't tell what he said. Do you think it's-" but Squall held up his hand to silence her. There were voices coming from outside Squall's door.

"I want you to stay down and out of sight," he whispered. "Do you understand?" She nodded. He pushed her back into the closet, and he crept behind the bed. The door opened, and the light came on.

The two men Litta had seen were now standing in Squall's room. From the clothes they were wearing, they were Turks. They looked around, then turned to leave. Before they could both get out of the door, Squall had jumped up from behind the bed and grabbed one around the neck from behind. He slammed the door on the other one and locked it.

"What are you doing here?" Squall asked him.

"Don't tell me you don't know what we're doing here. And I thought you were smarter than that."

"Tell me why Rufus sent you here Tseng."

"Where is she Squall?"

"Who?"

"Litta. That's all we want."

"That's never been all you want. Where is Yuffie? And Vincent?"

"Your friend Yuffie has been taken to Shin-Ra already. As for Vincent, Rufus is dealing with him."

"What does Rufus want with Vincent?" The door was knocked down before Tseng could answer. Rude charged at Squall without giving him enough time to get his blade out. Squall was knocked into the wall. He slumped to the floor, but Litta couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not.

"Leave him Rude. We have to find that girl." But Litta had come out of the closet, remembering her resolve to fight by Squall's side.

"You want to find me?" She asked. They both turned towards her.

"Well, that makes our job a lot easier. If you will come quietly, things will go much smoother."

"You know I won't go anywhere with you, especially back to see Rufus." She pulled out her gun, but Tseng was a few seconds faster. He fired, and she dodged.

"It seems you know how to dodge, yet unable to defend yourself. How sad."

"I can defend myself just fine." She fired a shot at Tseng. Then she fired a few more shots at Rude, who had been inching his way towards her.

"You hit Rude, very nice. But you still missed me." He fired, and instead of hitting Litta, hit Squall. "If you come with us, I'll heal him. If you try to heal him yourself, I'll stop you. If you don't come with us, I'll personally make sure he dies. It's your choice." She stood for only a moment before acting.

She shot Tseng, who had unwisely lowered his gun. She then quickly healed Squall, who still had not regained consciousness. She looked back at Tseng. He had healed himself and had finished healing Rude. He looked back at her.

"Nice try, but I can still kill Squall. At the moment though, my job it to collect you. So if you won't come quietly-"

"You know I won't come at all."

"- then I'll take you by force."

"That's not going to work. I won't come with you."

"It'll work just fine. Hold on." His phone was ringing and he picked it up. "I'm just about to bring her...yes, I know...we ran into...but I was able to..." He hung up the phone a little disgusted.

"Rufus?" Litta asked.

"I'm afraid we'll have to continue this discussion some other time. Rude." They left without another word. Litta ran to see if Squall was conscious. He was coming around when she heard an explosion outside. Then another followed.

"Squall, I have to get you out of here. Can you walk yet?" He didn't respond, so she dragged him behind her as she made her way down the stairs. When they reached the first floor, she saw what the explosions were. Tseng had set the house on fire, or at least she thought it was Tseng.

_Why would they set the house on fire?_ Squall wondered. _Litta's too important for them to try to kill her. They might be trying to kill me, only they know she won't leave without me._

As Litta was heading towards the back door, she heard something that made her blood stand still.

"How nice to see you again Litta." _Sephiroth._

"What do you want?" Litta asked.

"I'm not allowed to pay a visit to my only daughter?"

"I asked you what you want."

"And I told you. I want to see my daughter. Not that I'm happy about the company she's with." He was looking at Squall.

"Squall has nothing to do with this. Why are you here? If you had wanted to see me, you would have been here sooner."

"True, I could have come to get you any time. But I had to see to some things first."

"Did you set the house on fire?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Why?"

"I'm afraid I made a mistake, but that doesn't matter right now."

"Well unless you're going to tell me, I'm leaving."

"Why don't we continue this conversation elsewhere, away from fire and smoke. And," he added, "unwanted company."

"I'm not leaving Squall."

"If he were in your position, he wouldn't hesitate to save his own skin. Don't you realize that?"

"You don't know anything about Squall then. Now if we're finished," but Sephiroth had grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

"I said we would continue this conversation elsewhere, which is what I plan to do." He dragged her out the door and continued to walk into the forest. He stopped after they had walked a safe distance from the house. Litta noticed that there was smoke in a different direction than Yuffie's house.

"Where else have you been?" she asked Sephiroth.

"Just around the city."

"Did you happen to set the rest of the city on fire?"

"I may have destroyed a few other worthless homes, but nothing to worry about my dear."

"Did you kill anyone?" she asked with forced calmness. She was close to killing Sephiroth herself.

"A few nameless persons may have been fatally wounded, but that's not important."

"NOT IMPORTANT!" She was beyond furious now. She laid Squall a little ways away, so she'd be able to get to him first should she need to.

"Yes child, not im-"

"Do NOT call me child. I have been perfectly fine without you and will continue to do so. And those people you killed were very important! How can you even say otherwise?" She paused to try to calm her anger. Sephiroth seized this moment to play off her anger.

"You do not know these people though. You do not know what kind of people they were. They could have been thieves or worse. So to stand up for them is a waste of your time and energy."

"There is no way," Litta said in an icy voice, "that you can possibly be my father. We have absolutely nothing in common."

"I'm afraid you're wrong there. You are a quick learner concerning magic and weapons, as was I when I was younger."

"I don't want to hear anything else from you. Everything you say is a lie."

"Not true. I have spoken nothing but the truth about Squall. Can you prove me wrong?" She thought for a moment. She couldn't think of anything he had said about Squall.

"What have you said about Squall before now?" _Hopefully he'll say something I can prove wrong._

"Back when I was training you, I told you he would abandon you. What happened in Balamb?"

_He left me and I was kidnapped. But he went to talk to a friend, he didn't abandon me. And he came after me when he found out I was gone._ "He had to talk to a friend and didn't want me there," she told Sephiroth. "When he found out that I was gone he came after me. Anything else?"

"Also during your training I told you he wouldn't care if you were injured. He would just put on a show so he wouldn't look heartless. What happened when these so-called 'friends' of yours tried to train you?"

_Irvine shot me, and was out of magic. He didn't know that, and he took me to Squall who healed me. It did seem to take a long time._ "I got shot, but Squall healed me."

"Didn't it seem to take a long time?"

"Yes, but they were trying to find someone who could heal me. Is that all you have?"

"No, but I think that's all I need. I know you are beginning to doubt your friends. I can read the expression on your face."

As Litta and Sephiroth had been talking, Squall had slowly become aware of things. He had stood up slowly, and had ended up behind Sephiroth. He was about ready to charge, when Sephiroth had said that last sentence. The last thing he wanted was to lose Litta's trust, so he charged with his blade out.

"I only have one thing left to do now." He turned from the confused Litta to Squall. He quickly drew all Squall's magic and flew off in the direction of Shin-Ra. Squall had been so surprised, and Litta was still confused, that neither of them was able to avoid the collision.

Squall quickly realized why Sephiroth had drawn all his magic, for now he was unable to heal Litta. The gash he had given her was long and deep. It was bleeding badly, and she needed help.

"Litta, I'm so sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

"I know. It's all right." She slowly raised her hand, which took a great amount of effort. She used her own magic and healed herself up. She sat up very quickly, and for a brief moment her lips were locked with Squall's. He pulled away quickly, which caused Litta to come back to reality. "I know you couldn't stop yourself from hitting me."

"Those things that Sephiroth told you, about me, they're not true. You know that, don't you?" Litta wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't know if she believed Squall, or Sephiroth.

_I need some time to sort things out. To figure out for myself what's going on. I can't keep taking everyone's word for things. I'll go crazy if I do. And if Squall doesn't feel the same way I do, then maybe Sephiroth is right._

"Litta?" She still hadn't answered him.

"I...need some time to, I mean," she paused. "Goodbye Squall." She took off running before he had time to register what she had said.

**End of Part 1**


End file.
